They were on a break, just like the rest of the film and TV world during the coronavirus pandemic. But now that things are slowly starting to reopen, it looks like there could be light at the end of the tunnel after all, and the
Friends reunion may finally go down this summer. Fans couldn’t BE any more excited and they’re breaking out their best Thanksgiving trifles to celebrate. (Joey? Good. Ross? Good. The entire cast? GOOD.)
Variety reported the good news on May 11 following a conversation with WarnerMedia boss Bob Greenblatt and obviously the reunion, which was officially confirmed at the end of February
following some pretty solid rumours, was a hot topic of conversation. The executive revealed he’s eyeing end-of-summer for the new shoot date but assured everyone that they don’t want to rush things because the special would be much more impactful in front of a
live audience than it would be as another televised Zoom call with the stars calling in from their kitchens and bedrooms.[video_embed id='1954140']RELATED: Courteney Cox is also rewatching ‘Friends’ in quarantine[/video_embed]“We’re holding out for being able to get this special done hopefully by the end of the summer, if the stars align and hopefully we can get back into production. We do think there’s a value to having a big, raucous live audience to experience these six great friends coming back together,”
he said. “[It] may go more to a virtual route, if it is delayed too long but at the moment, we’re trying to look to the future and get this thing done in a more conventional way, and I think it’s worth waiting for.”At this point it may seem like the reunion has had more starts and stops than Ross and Rachel. The original plan was for the hour-long special to drop on May 27 at the same time as the new WarnerMedia streaming service, HBO Max, launched in the States. (In Canada, Crave and Bell Media are scheduled to air all of the new Warner Bros. originals released through the service, including the upcoming
Gossip Girl reboot and Kaley Cuoco’s new series,
The Flight Attendant.)Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and most of Hollywood shut down, which meant that the special
had to be delayed as well. Leading up to that decision, the OG Central Perk set had been pulled out of storage (or more accurately from the photo opp stage on the Warner Bros. lot), and everyone had booked off May 23 to make the magic happen. Obviously no one told them life was going to be this way just a few short weeks later.“We would have loved to have had it on [HBO Max on] Day One, but at the same time, if we can get it launched in the fall, I think it’ll be something that we can have the audience really looking forward to as well,” Greenblatt told
Variety.One thing is for sure—these
Friends will reunite one way or another. Courteney Cox has been pretty open about
how excited she is to do the show and it feels like Matthew Perry even
joined Instagram to get in on the action (okay maybe it was just peer pressure since he was the last cast member to get on the platform). The crew is also getting a reported $3-4 million payday to sit around and talk about the good old days together, which doesn’t seem like a bad gig at all. It’s certainly enough to buy
five steaks and an eggplant, at any rate.For now, fans have to keep sitting tight. But considering they’ve been waiting 16 years to see the coffee-drinking crew back together again, another few months ain't so bad.[video_embed id='1956777']RELATED: Kelly Clarkson tells us all about her secret talent[/video_embed]
