Television

The 'Friends' Reunion Special On HBO Max Is A Done Deal [Updated]

friends reunion special
By Hoai-Tran Bui

Update: Today, HBO Max officially confirmed that the Friends cast will reunite for "an untitled unscripted special" which will be available when the new streaming service launches this May. Our original article follows.

Welcome to the most boring episode of Friends ever: The One Where The Friends Reunion Special is Actually Happening. Three months after it had been confirmed that a Friends reunion special, which would reunite the original cast of the beloved NBC sitcom, was in the works at HBO Max, we have an update: it's probably, very likely going to happen.

Deadline reports that negotiations are nearly at an end for Warner Bros. TV, which is producing the TV special, and Friends stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry. The outlet reports that each of the stars will be paid in the $3 million-$4 million range to appear in the special, a massive paycheck that surpasses even the famous $1 million per episode the cast received in the final season of the series.

HBO Max is reportedly dropping a whopping $20 million for this special, all to bring more buzz to the launch of Friends reruns on the upcoming streaming platform. WarnerMedia shelled out $425 million for the rights to the insanely popular sitcom, which became one of the most coveted streaming shows after its time on Netflix gave it renewed popularity.

If you were wondering whether this article was going to be all about money, you're right on — well — the money. That's the issue it came down to in the negotiations between the cast, Warner Bros. TV and HBO Max, last fall, when the talks came to a standstill over the deal. But it seems like a couple million dollars more were enough to satisfy the cast, who have been stoking fan excitement over social media with a few titillating tweets and internet-breaking selfies.

But for those hoping for a proper scripted Friends reunion, hold your excitement. During a Friends 25th anniversary panel at Tribeca TV Festival in September, co-creators/executive producers Marta Kauffman and David Crane, who are expected to be involved in the HBO Max special, shut down the possibility of a scripted reunion special.

"We will not be doing a reunion show, we will not be doing a reboot," Kauffman said. "The show was about that time in life when friends are your family."

Crane added, "We did the show we wanted to do. We got it right, and we put a bow on it."

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