'Friends' Reunion is Definitely Happening on HBO Max
by EG
Sorry, but you're not going to get a revival of Friends. But if you'd be satisfied with simply seeing all of the original cast on the same stage at the same time, HBO Max has you covered. A reunion special will bring the six stars together (but not in character) on the new streaming platform in May. Read on for details.
Could we be any more excited?
As megahit Friends continues to celebrate its 25th anniversary, the six core stars and the creators of the NBC comedy from Warner Bros. TV have officially closed a deal to reunite for a one-off HBO Max special. The show, along with the entire library of Friends, will be available in May when the streamer officially launches.
The unscripted reunion special will feature stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, as well as series creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the cast, who all negotiated together, will earn more than double their former per-episode fee for the reunion and be paid between $2.5 million and $3 million for the special. The cast famously renegotiated their salaries together during the show's original run to earn a then-historic $1 million per episode of the comedy. (The cast also confirmed the news Friday with joint instagram posts. See new-to-Instagram Perry's, below.)
The Friends reunion immediately provides the kind of must-see TV that an upstart streaming service like HBO Max would want. Disney, for example, launched its streaming service late last year with its highly anticipated Star Wars drama The Mandalorian. That series immediately broke through the clutter and helped create an urgency to subscribe to the service.
The Friends reunion special will be filmed on Stage 24 of the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank, where the entire series was shot. Ben Winston will direct and executive produce alongside Friends alums Kevin Bright, Kauffman and Crane. The project hails from Warner Bros. Unscripted & Alternative TV, with Fulwell 73 Productions also attached. All six stars will also exec produce. Emma Conway and James Longman will co-exec produce.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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