by Lia Haberman
Mar 28, 2003, 1:00 PM PT

Wham, bam, thank you Friends.

The Emmy-winning NBC show has seen plenty of lovers come and, especially in Joey's case, lovers go. Finally, Phoebe has found a guy with staying power.

Paul Rudd is the lucky fella who has been asked to stick around. On the show, the actor plays Lisa Kudrow's boyfriend Mike--introduced by Joey as a last-minute blind date.

However, the TV twosome recently broke up when the loopy blonde nixed moving in together after Mike confessed he couldn't see getting married. That should have been the end of Rudd, but today's casting news paints a different picture.

The 33-year-old actor, who has already appeared in nine episodes this season, has inked a deal to return for the last two episodes this season and to become a recurring character on the show's 10th and final season. Rudd has signed on for five episodes next season with an option for five more.

Does this mean a happy ending is in store for Friends' orphaned folk singer-massage therapist? The show's publicist and Rudd's rep aren't talking, but rarely has an outsider lasted longer than a couple of episodes (unless they were married to Ross).

New Jersey-born Rudd first got his foot in the door with roles in 1995's Clueless and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Next came a small part in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. Rudd then played Jennifer Aniston's mismatched love interest in The Object of My Affection, followed by roles in 200 Cigarettes and The Cider House Rules.

Next month, the stage and screen thesp, who attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles and Oxford University's British Drama Academy, will star in Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things. It's a chance for Rudd and costars Rachel Weisz, Gretchen Mol and Fred Weller to reprise the roles they played in LaBute's London and off-Broadway stage production of the same name.

The movie, which bowed to critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, sticks closely to LaBute's theater production, prompting the director to quip to reporters, "I just wrote 'fade-in' at the top of the script." Described as a gender twist on the cruelty of In the Company of Men, Rudd stars as a museum security guard who becomes a work in progress for art student Weisz.