Mark those calendars because ‘Friends: The Reunion’ will be premiering this month.
After months (or, at this point, years) of rumors and anticipation, the Friends reunion of our dreams is going to become a reality. It’s official! The Friends reunion, called “The One Where They Get Back Together,” starts broadcasting on HBO Max on Thursday, May 27.
The cast was set to gather for a special on HBO’s streaming service, HBO Max, to honor the iconic sitcom’s 25th anniversary. There have been some bumps in the road to production, however, as the entertainment world has been on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. There were hopes that production would begin in the summer, but it was “pushed back indefinitely” due to the pandemic, according to Entertainment Weekly.
HBO revealed that the special – which assembled Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Courteney Cox (Monica), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), Matthew Perry (Chandler), and David Schwimmer (Ross) will reunite for the first time in almost 18 years – at the original Friends soundstage — Stage 24, at the Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank—to film. All six stars will also executive produce.
The official trailer shows the cast getting back together on the original Friends studio, testing their trivia knowledge of the show, revisiting key sets, re-reading their lines, and joining James Corden for a joint sit-down interview in front of a live audience.
In the more candid moments of the interview, we get to see how close the stars’ real-life friendships really are. “I love you guys so much,” one of the actors says in the middle of a group hug.
For Clarity Purposes: The Reunion Special Is Not a New Friends Episode.
The main cast will reunite, revisit the set, have surprises, and share behind-the-scenes footage, but they won’t be portraying their original characters. They’ll simply be appearing as themselves.
HBO Max explained in a statement, “Lastly, in order to avoid any misunderstanding about what this special is, we want to make it very clear that this is not a new, original episode of the series. The cast will be appearing as themselves, not as their beloved characters.”
One of the most successful shows of all time, ‘Friends’ – which was created by David Crane and
Marta Kauffman- ran for 10 seasons before wrapping in 2004. It made household names of its anchoring stars and continues to dominate TV today thanks to lucrative syndication deals.
‘Friends: The Reunion’ serves as another masterstroke for HBO Max, who also played home to the much-praised ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ reunion. The group is reportedly bagging at least $2.5 million each for the celebratory special.
Now that Friends is off Netflix, the series—all 236 episodes of it—have found a new online home at HBO. We’ll most definitely be watching this May 27. Will you? Also, which star from the sitcom can’t you wait to see on screen?
