An unscripted special will bring the original cast of the popular sitcom—Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer— back to the Warner Bros. Studio lot for a reunion and celebration of the show, which first aired in 1994.
Rumors of a reunion special started simmering in November, but The Hollywood Reporter has now confirmed that the core cast of the beloved series — that’s Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer — is set to return for the limited special. The TV show’s creators, David Crane and Marta Kauffman, are also expected to participate.
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 scripted 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 filmed. Ben Winston will direct and exec produce alongside Friends alums Kevin Bright, Kauffman and Crane. Warner Bros. Unscripted & Alternative TV is the studio, with Fulwell 73 Productions also attached. All six stars will also exec produce. Emma Conway and James Longman will co-exec produce.
“Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together — we are reuniting with David, Jennifer, Courteney, Matt, Lisa and Matthew for an HBO Max special that will be programmed alongside the entire Friends library,” said Kevin Reilly, chief content officer at HBO Max and president, TBS, TNT and truTV. “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.”
