The Friends DVD cover that's sparked a bizarre fan theory.

We’re not quite sure how it’s taken this long, but 14 years after the Friends Season 4 DVD was released, something strange on the cover has whipped fans into a speculating frenzy.

Take a look.

While everyone is peacefully napping, fully clothed, Rachel (played by Jennifer Aniston) lies awake, snugly tucked beneath the sheets.

So what does it mean? Because a DVD cover is never just a DVD cover, people. It's definitely, probably a secret message from the producers about the true meaning of the show.

It all started with this Tweet:

"Theories needed," Ted Fox wrote.

And so, theories were given.

That Rachel is the most 'woke' character on the show. That "It's like the Truman show.... she's the only actor. All the others don't know they're being filmed." That the other five just happened to blink at the same time. That, erm, something came up between her and Chandler.

Then there was also this: "What's a DVD? Signed, the Millennials."

But there was one spot of speculation that really seemed to take hold.

Phil Dunne posited that the entire show was in fact an anxiety dream experienced by Rachel on the eve of her wedding to dentist Barry, as way of escaping her "spoilt, trapped future life".

This cover, Dunne theorises, is the moment she wakes up.

via GIPHY

The theory is raising plenty of eyebrows, and even more questions: Why would she look so calm?; why season 4?; why would anyone dream up Ugly Naked Guy?

It does explain the biggest plot hole in the entire series. Because only in a dream could a group of 20-somethings afford such a sizeable slice of New York real estate.

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