A much-awaited announcement that Friends would be airing a reunion episode was met by happy fans. The long, 15-year, awaited reunion of the show that featured characters who were learning to maneuver post-college life as friends, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler, and Joey was a welcome excitement.
As the theme song goes, “Nobody told you it was gonna be this way.” After the announcement in February, pre-COVID-19 shutdowns, that Friends would be doing a reunion show, fans were jumping up and down with anticipation. Once lockdowns hit the entertainment industry, however, all of this got put on hold.
The show is now rescheduled and set to begin filming in August. Co-creator Marta Kauffman explained that they are hoping to shoot in August provided all goes well and the studio doors are opened for filming. Assuming the best, shooting should begin by the latter part of the summer month in California’s Burbank studios where the original show was filmed.
A Friends reunion special show has been talked about for years. In November last year, Jennifer Aniston teased that the original cast members were working on something. A few months later, Matthew Perry tweeted that big news was coming. And, big news it is. That is, once it is able to actually happen.
Jennifer Aniston who played Rachel, along with other castmates made the same announcement on their Instagram accounts with a simple, “It’s happening…” spotlighting a picture of the cast in a convertible with Sailor-clad Ross hanging on for dear life. The one exception was Matt LeBlanc who posted the same short caption with a picture of the M*A*S*H cast instead. Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe on the show, claimed in an interview that “It’s definitely going to happen.” Though, she added that if people are not able to gather, they cannot do it.
The show is anticipated to air on HBO Max taking the form of a retrospective episode with interviews of the cast. The show details are not known yet, but it is planned to be an hour-long and off-script. There is also talk that Ellen DeGeneres may be the host.
The entire cast had previously turned down a $1 Million offer that would have gone to each actor for their appearance in a reunion special. It is speculated that the cast will now be earning a whopping $2.25 to $2.50 Million each to appear in the show.