The cast of NBC sitcom will be reuniting for an 'unscripted reunion' for HBO Max. HBO Max bought the rights to streaming Friendsfrom Netflixwhich is why the show was taken off the US's streaming site in 2019. Luckily, for those of us in the UK, we still have access to Friends on our accounts but hopefully, there will be a way we can watch the HBO special as well.
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According to the magazine Variety, the cast is each set to be paid around £2 Million for the special.
To announce the reunion each of the main cast members posted the same photo, with the same caption 'It's happening' on Instagram:
However, Matt LeBlanc, the actor who portrayed Joey, pranked us all when he opted for a photo of the M.A.S.H crew instead:
Jennifer Aniston has spoken to Variety in the past, wondering why Friends has been such a hit for generations:
“It’s a phenomenon that I am amazed by. To have a whole new generation of children adoring the show as much as they did back in the day when it was airing for the first time is incredible."
The 'Rachel Green' actress even admitted to Ellen in 2019 that “we're just trying. We're working on something..."
The chief content operator at HBO Max, Kevin Reilly states that the special will be released alongside the backlog of Friends episodes. Reilly even holds the sitcom close to his heart, having worked on it in the past:
“I became aware of ‘Friends’ when it was in the very early stages of development and then had the opportunity to work on the series many years later and have delighted in seeing it catch on with viewers generation after generation. It taps into an era when friends – and audiences – gathered together in real-time and we think this reunion special will capture that spirit, uniting original and new fans.”
Ben Winston will be directing the special and the famous executive producers; Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane will also be returning to work on this much-anticipated piece. The famous five will also be participating as producers as well.
As Reilly stated: “Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together".
