Advanced Television

Friends back together for HBO Max special

February 21, 2020

By Nik Roseveare

Rumours have been circulating for several weeks, but now WarnerMedia has confirmed that the Friends cast will be reuniting for an untitled, unscripted special that will be exclusive to SVoD platform HBO Max, which is set to go live in May.

Series stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer will return to the iconic comedy’s original soundstage, Stage 24, on the Warner Bros Studio lot in Burbank for a celebration of the beloved sitcom. The unscripted cast reunion special, along with all 236 episodes of thes eries, will be available to subscribers at the launch of HBO Max.

“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, 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.”


Ben Winston will direct the special and will executive produce along with original Friends executive producers Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman, and David Crane. The special hails from Warner Bros Unscripted & Alternative Television and Fulwell 73 Productions. Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry, and Schwimmer will also executive produce the special. Emma Conway and James Longman are co-executive producers.

Despite ending over 15 years ago, after 10 seasons, Friends continues to attract new audiences, and maintain old fans with reruns. Studies often cite it as still being the most watched show on the planet.

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