AFriends Reunion Specialwill be there for you later this year on HBO Max. The upcoming streaming service is set to enter the increasingly crowded media space, competing with the likes of Netflix and Disney+. HBO Max will be the exclusive streaming home of the beloved sitcom and, what’s more, they’ve now locked down the cast for a long-awaited reunion special.
According to a new report,Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perryhave all reached an agreement to appear in an unscriptedFriendsreunion special, which will air on HBO Max to help launch the service. We had previously heard that just such a project was in the works, but it’s said negotiations with the cast reached a standstill, as the studio and the stars were rather far apart on money. However, they’ve sorted it out and it looks like they will all be taking home between $3 and $4 million for the one-hour special.
Jennifer Aniston had previously teased that something may be in the works on theFriendsfront, but she was somewhat non-committal and didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up prematurely. Earlier this week, Matthew Perry sent out a tweet that read, “Big news coming…” which led to speculation some sort of reunion was on the way. While HBO has yet to officially announce the special, it seems to be imminent.HBO MaxChief Creative Officer Kevin Reilly said last month at the Television Critics Association press tour that they were all interested in making it happen, but didn’t make it sound like a sure thing at the time.
“There is interest all around, and yet we can’t get the interests all alighted to push the button on it. Today it’s just maybe.”
Undoubtedly, fans of the show would love some sort of scripted revival, or even a one-off special. But that has been ruled out multiple times in the past. Co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane addressed it during a panel at the Tribeca TV Festival last year. Kauffman made it clear that it wasn’t in the cards.
“We will not be doing a reunion show, we will not be doing a reboot. The show was about that time in life when friends are your family… t’s not going to beat what we did.”
