The devastating theory about Ben from Friends.

It’s been over  ten years since Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe graced our television screens for the last time.

But as the Friends we came to know and love live on through syndicated reruns and Netflix binges, the Internet has given us so many extra snippets of our favourite New Yorkers over the years.

From deleted scenes to revealed plot holes, the World Wide Web is jam packed with extras about our favourite sitcom buddies.

Read More: Friends almost didn't make it to air because of these two characters.

But now, one Friends' fan has come up with a heartbreaking new theory of how the show ended, changing our perception of Ross forever.

As dedicated fans would know, the sitcom ended with Ross and Rachel finally ending up together after the birth of their daughter, Emma. After ten years of will-they-or-won't they drama, the lovable divorcee Ross finally snagged his one true love in the series finale.

But of course, Emma wasn't Ross' only child. Early on in the series, his ex-wife Carol gave birth to Ross' son, Ben, who featured throughout the series.

That is up until Emma Gellar-Green's arrival. As detective blogger D.F Lovett explains, Friends was on air for ten seasons. But Ben not only never meets his younger half-sister Emma, but he never appears on the show again after Episode Twelve of Season Eight.

Even more troubling is the fact that Ben is only mentioned SIX times in the fifty-four episodes that follow his final appearance in Season Eight.

As Lovett writes, Ben's absence raises a serious question about what became of the father-son relationship.

"... does Ross still see Ben? Sure, he mentions Ben in these last two and a half season(s), but does he have any role in Ben's life? When he references Ben, is he referencing something that he once was, a child he no longer sees or knows?"

Beckett goes onto theorise that perhaps Ross' ex-wife Carol and her partner Susan ended up with full custody of Ben, arguing that Ross' behaviour towards the end of the series run showed some unattractive sides of Ross' personality.

Read More: Want to know what Ross and Rachel's baby looks like now? 

Sure, Ross wasn't always perfect. He did get suspended from work for abusing a colleague for eating his sandwich and he may have lost his cool when trying to move a couch up the stairs in his apartment building, but over all, Ross was a pretty decent guy and a pretty good dad...

As Redbook points out, Cole Sprouse, who played Ben in the later seasons of Friends, went on to star in The Suite Life of Zac and Cody with his twin brother Dylan, making it possible that he wasn't able to appear in the last seasons of Friends.

Whether the theory is true or not, we're just a little bummed that Emma and Ben would never be given the opportunity to recreate Ross and Monica's spectacular dance routine.

WATCH Ross and Monica's routine here..

Do you think the theory could be true?

TAP THE IMAGE and scroll through the gallery for the best Friends quotes...