Seth Rogen and James Franco were friends and collaborators for many years before their shocking falling out.
The duo met on the set of the cult classic TV show Freaks and Geeks, which aired in 1999. From there, Rogen and Franco continued to work together on films including Pineapple Express, This Is the End, The Interview and The Disaster Artist.
In 2014, Franco was accused of propositioning a 17-year-old girl via Instagram. He stayed out of the spotlight for four years before breaking his silence about the claims made against him.
“In my life, I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that I’ve done. I have to do that to maintain my well-being. I do it whenever I know that there is something wrong or needs to be changed, I make it a point to do it,” Franco said on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in January 2018. “The things that I heard that were on Twitter are not accurate, but I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice because they didn’t have a voice for so long. I don’t want to, you know, shut them down in any way. It’s, I think, a good thing and I support it.”
That same month, five women — four of whom were Franco’s acting students — accused him of sexually inappropriate behavior. The following year, two of the former students filed a sexual misconduct lawsuit, which he settled.
Following the settlement, Rogen revealed that he didn’t have any plans to work with his former friend again. Franco acknowledged at the time that Rogen’s comments were “hurtful.”
Keep scrolling for a full breakdown of Franco and Rogen’s friendship — and subsequent falling out:
What Did James Franco and Seth Rogen Work on Together?
After working together on Freaks and Geeks, Franco and Rogen formed a friendship that spanned over two decades. They worked on a multitude of comedy films before accusations against Franco came to light.
“I generally have a movie with a Franco here almost every single year, culminating in this year with two Francos,” Rogen shared at the SXSW festival in 2017 while discussing Franco and his brother Dave, who also appeared in The Disaster Artist.
What Was James Franco Accused Of?
In 2018, several women came forward and alleged they were victims of Franco’s inappropriate behavior, with a lawsuit being filed the following year. Franco eventually reached a settlement, and Us Weekly confirmed in February 2021 that two of his former acting students decided to drop their claims.
Franco later explained his decision to stay “quiet” after the allegations initially came to light.
“[It] did not seem like the right time to say anything. There were people that were upset with me, and I needed to listen,” he told SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle in 2021. “When something like this happens, the natural human instinct is to just make it stop. You just want to get out in front of it and whatever you have to do, apologize, get it done. But what that doesn’t do is allow you to do the work and to look at what was underneath.
Franco noted that he had been “doing a lot of work” since the scandal made headlines, saying, “I was in recovery before for substance abuse and there were some issues that I had to deal with that were also related to addiction. So I’ve really used my recovery background to kind of start examining this and changing who I was.”
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What Has Seth Rogen Said About His Relationship With James Franco Now?
Rogen broke his silence on the rift between him and Franco in May 2021, confirming that there were no future plans for them to work together.
“I have not, and I do not plan to [work with James] right now,” the actor told the U.K.’s Sunday Times. “What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment, and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that.”
Rogen doubled down on that decision five years later, telling The New York Times in June 2026, “I honestly think the nuance of it is too personal for me to get into right now. It is a very personal thing. There’s the public-facing side of it, which I’ve spoken about, and I have the same stance publicly that I’ve had, and I think the proof is in the pudding — I have not worked with him in years.”
He added: “Nothing has changed since the last time I talked about all this. I haven’t worked with him in a really long time and I have no plans to.”
What Has James Franco Said About His Falling Out With Seth Rogen?
Seth Rogen, James Franco. Getty Images (2)
Franco, for his part, said on SiriusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Podcast” in December 2021 that he understood Rogen’s side of things. “I absolutely love Seth Rogen. I worked with him for 20 years,” he added. “We didn’t have one fight for 20 years. Not one fight. He was my absolute closest work friend and collaborator. We just gelled and what he said is true. We aren’t working together right now and we don’t have any plans to work together.”
He also acknowledged Rogen’s decision to distance himself from the controversy, saying, “It’s one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to you today. I don’t want Seth or my brother [Dave] or anyone to have to answer for me anymore.”
Three years later, Franco admitted to Variety in October 2024 that his friendship with Rogen never got to a better place.
“I haven’t talked to Seth,” he revealed. “I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I guess it’s over.”
