What makes Julia Roberts’ science fiction film “Leave the World Behind” revolve around “Friends”?

Warning: this is a spoiler! If you haven’t seen “Leave The World Behind,” stop reading now, as this story contains spoilers for its climactic scene.

Based on the 2020 novel, Netflix’s dystopian science-fiction film “Leave the World Behind” is eerie, scary, cautionary, and chilling. It is currently available for streaming.

However, “Friends” offers director Sam Esmail (“Mr. Robot”) a moving remedy for the eerie atmosphere. That’s right, the beloved star Matthew Perry’s recent passing brought the hit NBC sitcom from 1994 to 2004 back into the public eye.

In Esmail’s film, which stars Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, and Kevin Bacon in a minor but significant role, “Friends” plays a crucial emotional role. (Roberts dated Perry for three months during her brief “Friends” appearance in the mid-1990s.) The story of “Leave The World Behind” centers on a family on vacation, some uninvited guests, and a world that abruptly collapses.

We turned the entire “Friends” thing into a plot because, in (Rumaan Alam’s) book, it was really just a passing comment, says Esmail.

This is the tale: The daughter of vacationing Amanda (Julia Roberts), Rose (Farrah Mackenzie), can’t take her eyes off her tablet, which she uses to stream “Friends.” She is about to finish watching the last few episodes of the show when something terrible happens: her Wi-Fi stops working.

The sci-fi thriller “Leave The World Behind” has “Friends” as its “heartbeat,” according to director Sam Esmail Rose is among the first to pick up on the technical glitch, which is a sign of much worse things to come. She only wants to watch the finale, but her sullen teenage brother Archie (Charlie Evans), who finds it hard to believe she cares so much about such a silly, sentimental show, mocks her laments.Which, according to Esmail, is exactly the point.

“Everyone handles crises differently,” he remarks. “I read the book before the pandemic started, and I recall how absurd the release of (Netflix’s 2020 docuseries) ‘Tiger King’ was. It was the topic of conversation for everyone.

Like with “Tiger King,” I thought Rose’s bond with “Friends” was incredibly relatable and consoling,” he says. “That, in a sense, is the core of the movie: Rose’s desire to go back to her comfort zone.”

When Rose succeeds in showing the movie’s climax, “I’ll Be There For You” by the Rembrandts, the unavoidable and irrepressible “Friends” theme song, begins to play.

Esmail states, “I wanted to end on a small note of hope after putting the audience through all the darkness.”