‘Friends’ cast reunites for HBO Max Special
Special deals will be available to subscribers at the launch of the new streaming service in May. (Can you get any more excited?)
Don’t worry if it’s not your day, your week, your month or even your year: The cast of “Friends” is returning to your TV screen.
More than 15 years after audiences last saw Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey on network television, the group is returning with an as-yet-untitled exclusive special for HBO Max, a new streaming service. In addition to the special offer, subscribers will also have access to all 236 episodes of the Emmy-winning series when the streaming service launches in May, executives said in a statement. on Friday.
“Guess you could call this where they all got back together – we’re reuniting with David, Jennifer, Courteney, Matt, Lisa and Matthew for an HBO Max special that will be co-programmed with the entire ‘Friends’ library,” said Kevin Reilly, the streaming service’s chief content officer.
On Instagram, the cast posted Rolling Stone covers from the show’s early days.
“It’s happening,” they wrote.
The announcement of the unscripted special comes just weeks after the show was removed from Netflix.
“Friends” enjoyed a culturally rich afterlife as audiences rediscovered — or, for younger viewers, discovered for the first time — the film in reruns or on streaming services online.
In 2014, a replica of Central Perk, a fictional coffee shop that served as a setting for 10 seasons of the show, was erected in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
But it hasn’t been all nostalgic glory for the show in the years since it went off the air. In August, Buzzfeed detailed how the show “hasn’t aged well.” In 2018, Insider described the show as “overrated at best and problematic at worst.”
The series finale of “Friends,” which aired in May 2004, attracted more than 52.5 million viewers at the time.
An HBO Max spokesperson said in a brief interview on Friday that there are few details about the special at this time, but fans can get a glimpse of the huge apartments that The characters’ Manhattan utopia will be watching an unscripted show filmed at a comedy theater. Original soundstage.