Remember when Hollywood actor Jennifer Aniston joined Instagram and posted her first picture which had all of her co-stars from the hit sitcom FRIENDS and the internet lost its marbles? Well, this is bigger than that. Because after nearly two decades of FRIENDS fans hoping and praying for a reunion, it’s finally happening!
In what’s making the internet do a collective “Oh. My. God!” the cast of the 10-season show – Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), Courtney Cox (Monica), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe), David Schwimmer (Ross) and Mathew Perry (Chandler) – collectively made one post on all of their Instagram accounts. It was a FRIENDS poster with all of them, with the caption “It’s happening!”, and they tagged HBO Max.
Fans went into a frenzy, of course, wondering what this was about. News reports confirmed what they were thinking – that the cast is coming together for a reunion on HBO Max – a new subscription streaming service – when it launches in May.
Kevin Reilly, Chief Content Officer for the channel, said in a statement that they could call this "the one where they all got back together". He confirmed that the cast was reuniting for a special that will be programmed along with the entire existing FRIENDS series on the platform. Kevin said that this reunion will capture the essence of the time when fans of the show came together in real time.
HBO Max has bought the sitcom’s existing seasons for $425 million. The series previously streamed on Netflix, and was the second most watched show on the platform in 2018. While FRIENDS still appears to be available on Netflix in some countries, including India, it seems to have pulled out from the streaming platform in other places.
According to Variety, the reunion is yet untitled, will also be unscripted, and will be shot on the original FRIENDS soundstage, Stage 24 at Warner Bros Studio in Burbank. Sources told Variety that each of the six stars will receive around $2.5 million for this special.
The special will be directed by Ben Winston. He will also be the executive producer along with the executive producers of the show itself - Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane. The cast of six will also executive produce the special, and Emma Conway and James Longman will be co-executive producers of the reunion episode.
FRIENDS aired from 1994 to 2004, and remains one of the most popular and evergreen sitcoms.