Everything the ‘Friends’ Cast Has Said About the Upcoming Reunion Special

May 25, 2021

Everything the Friends Cast Has Said About Upcoming Reunion — TV Land

“We are hoping to be able to shoot in August if all is well and there is no early second wave and the studio is open,” cocreator Marta Kauffman told The Wrap in June. However, in August, the streamer delayed the production again, pushing filming back to the fall at the earliest.

The reunion will include all six cast members, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc, as well as Kauffman, 63, and cocreator David Krane. This will be the first time the entire cast is back together on screen since the show wrapped. The special is still set to film on Stage 24 of the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank, the same stage the sitcom was filmed for 10 years.

“Guess you could call this ‘The One Where They Get Back Together,'” HBO Max’s chief content officer Kevin Reilly said in a statement in February. “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.”

The show, which consisted of 236 episodes between its 1994 premiere and 2004 finale, has become one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. The comedy was nominated for 62 Primetime Emmy Awards (four wins), 10 Golden Globe Awards (one win), 14 Screen Actors Guild Awards (two wins) and 11 People’s Choice Awards (11 wins).

For more hot celebrity news, listen to Us Weekly editors dish on top topics & trends with these clips from the Hot Hollywood Podcast!

Although many details about the special have yet to be announced, the cast has spoken out about it many times since the news broke.

The official Friends Instagram account confirmed that the reunion filmed on April 10: “That’s a wrap! 🎬 Could we BE anymore excited!? Friends: The Reunion is coming to @hbomax. #friendsreunion.”

One month later, HBO Max released the first teaser for the upcoming special, confirming it would hit the streaming platform on May 27.

Scroll through the gallery below to see everything they’ve said about the upcoming special.

Credit: TV Land

Everything the ‘Friends’ Cast Has Said About the Upcoming Reunion Special

They were on a break — but it will soon be over. The highly anticipated Friends reunion special, which was originally set to be released in May when HBO Max debuted, has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the cast seems to be just as excited about stepping onto the stage together as the fans are. "We are hoping to be able to shoot in August if all is well and there is no early second wave and the studio is open,” cocreator Marta Kauffman told The Wrap in June. However, in August, the streamer delayed the production again, pushing filming back to the fall at the earliest. The reunion will include all six cast members, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc, as well as Kauffman, 63, and cocreator David Krane. This will be the first time the entire cast is back together on screen since the show wrapped. The special is still set to film on Stage 24 of the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank, the same stage the sitcom was filmed for 10 years. "Guess you could call this 'The One Where They Get Back Together,'" HBO Max's chief content officer Kevin Reilly said in a statement in February. "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." The show, which consisted of 236 episodes between its 1994 premiere and 2004 finale, has become one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. The comedy was nominated for 62 Primetime Emmy Awards (four wins), 10 Golden Globe Awards (one win), 14 Screen Actors Guild Awards (two wins) and 11 People's Choice Awards (11 wins). For more hot celebrity news, listen to Us Weekly editors dish on top topics & trends with these clips from the Hot Hollywood Podcast! Although many details about the special have yet to be announced, the cast has spoken out about it many times since the news broke. The official Friends Instagram account confirmed that the reunion filmed on April 10: “That’s a wrap! 🎬 Could we BE anymore excited!? Friends: The Reunion is coming to @hbomax. #friendsreunion.” One month later, HBO Max released the first teaser for the upcoming special, confirming it would hit the streaming platform on May 27. Scroll through the gallery below to see everything they've said about the upcoming special. [podcast_block]

Credit: TV Land

Everything the ‘Friends’ Cast Has Said About the Upcoming Reunion Special

They were on a break — but it will soon be over. The highly anticipated Friends reunion special, which was originally set to be released in May when HBO Max debuted, has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the cast seems to be just as excited about stepping onto the stage together as the fans are. "We are hoping to be able to shoot in August if all is well and there is no early second wave and the studio is open,” cocreator Marta Kauffman told The Wrap in June. However, in August, the streamer delayed the production again, pushing filming back to the fall at the earliest. The reunion will include all six cast members, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc, as well as Kauffman, 63, and cocreator David Krane. This will be the first time the entire cast is back together on screen since the show wrapped. The special is still set to film on Stage 24 of the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank, the same stage the sitcom was filmed for 10 years. "Guess you could call this 'The One Where They Get Back Together,'" HBO Max's chief content officer Kevin Reilly said in a statement in February. "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." The show, which consisted of 236 episodes between its 1994 premiere and 2004 finale, has become one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. The comedy was nominated for 62 Primetime Emmy Awards (four wins), 10 Golden Globe Awards (one win), 14 Screen Actors Guild Awards (two wins) and 11 People's Choice Awards (11 wins). For more hot celebrity news, listen to Us Weekly editors dish on top topics & trends with these clips from the Hot Hollywood Podcast! Although many details about the special have yet to be announced, the cast has spoken out about it many times since the news broke. The official Friends Instagram account confirmed that the reunion filmed on April 10: “That’s a wrap! 🎬 Could we BE anymore excited!? Friends: The Reunion is coming to @hbomax. #friendsreunion.” One month later, HBO Max released the first teaser for the upcoming special, confirming it would hit the streaming platform on May 27. Scroll through the gallery below to see everything they've said about the upcoming special. [podcast_block]

Credit: Shutterstock

Guest Stars

"It was really thrilling, a little intimidating, and then thrilling,” Kudrow told Entertainment Tonight in May of celebs’ guest appearances in the upcoming special. “Because they like Friends so much. Shooting any of it, being in the same room with these people and getting to hug them [was my favorite]."

Credit: Ryan Miller/Shutterstock

Can't Wait

Shortly after the announcement, Cox went on the "Hiking With Kevin" YouTube series and explained she's extremely excited. “We're going to have the best time,” she said in February. “It's going to be great. We really haven't all done that and actually sat there and talked about and reminisced about this incredible experience that we had. … It's going to be fantastic."

Credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock

No Instruments

In April 2020, LeBlanc shared his reaction to the reunion series, telling Kelly Clarkson that it'll be nice to reminisce. "It's more like the six of us together talking about the good old days," he said at the time. "We got the band back together without the instruments."

Credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock

Why They Agreed

“Look, we’re all incredibly grateful, and we all knew it then, and know it now, that that was such a unique situation,” the Comeback creator told Entertainment Weekly in May. “We all loved — and love — each other. And genuinely had so much fun. And laughed for 10 years every day. We’re just really grateful. When we have been able to get together — I think that’s maybe twice and not even all of us — some people remember stuff the rest of us don’t remember at all. And then it’s fantastic. It’s like you’re being introduced to something that everybody else knows that you forgot.”

Credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock

Not Scripted

Most of the cast have revealed that the show is not scripted, but instead just the six actors together talking about the series. "I will not be Rachel, although I kind of am. Well, we’re all sort of little fragments of them. Not really," Aniston quipped during a Variety interview in June 2020.

Credit: Chelsea Lauren/Variety/Shutterstock

Back on Stage

In July 2020, Schwimmer said the thing he was most excited about was just the actual reunion. "I guess what I'm honestly most looking forward to is just being in the room with those other five actors," he told E! News. "But being on the actual soundstage on the actual set for the first time in 10 years, the set that we shot on for 10 years, that to me is going to be a really meaningful experience."

During a July 2020 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Schwimmer added that the special will be "basically a really fun interview and then some other surprise bits."

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Postponed Again

Aniston spoke out after the reunion was delayed again in August 2020 amid concerns about shooting the special with a live audience amid the coronavirus pandemic. "Unfortunately, it's very sad that we had to move it again," she told Deadline, admitting "it's not a safe time" to shoot with a studio full of people. But she insisted that when they do finally get together in front of a camera, "It's going to be super."

"You know what? This has also given us more time to make it even more exciting and more fun than it would have been. So I choose to see it as the glass is half-full that it got postponed," she said. "Look, we're not going anywhere. You're never going to get rid of Friends, sorry. You're stuck with us for life, guys."

Credit: MUNAWAR HOSAIN/startraksphoto.com

Host on the Hook?

Kudrow hinted that Ellen DeGeneres could be hosting the special while appearing on a September 2020 episode of SiriusXM’s Radio Andy. “Um, you may [have heard that], I don’t know,” she told host Andy Cohen. “I don’t know that that’s been decided.” The Web Therapy actress also joked about what kind of reunion fans can expect, saying, “Well, I think we're going to sit around like a really nice restaurant, and have you host and start screaming at each other … No, that's not, I don't know. I can't say.”

Credit: Joanne Davidson/Shutterstock

An Updated Date

"Friends reunion being rescheduled for the beginning of March," Perry tweeted on November 12. "Looks like we have a busy year coming up. And that's the way I like it!"

Credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock

Pre-Shot Footage

Kudrow revealed in January 2021 that scenes for the upcoming special have already been filmed. “There’s different facets to it, and we already shot packages of things,” she said on the “Literally! With Rob Lowe” podcast. “I pre-shot something already, so we’re definitely doing it because I already shot a little something.”

Credit: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock; startraksphoto.com

Moving Forward

"In a little over a month, I’m heading out to L.A. So, finally, I mean, we figured out a way to film it safely and there's going to be a portion of it that we filmed outside because of, you know, for safety protocols," Schwimmer said on Radio Andy in March 2021. He also denied that Ellen DeGeneres will be the host. "It’s not Ellen, it's not Billy Crystal. I could tell you who it's not!"

Credit: Reed Saxon/AP/Shutterstock

A Memorable Quote?

While the actors will not be in character for the special, they will "all read something" during one section of the special, which will film during the week of April 5, Schwimmer revealed on an episode of The Graham Norton Show. "I don't want to give [it] away," he added, before noting he can't wait to "see everyone for the first time in years."

Credit: YouTube

All the Feelings

"It was unbelievable. It was so emotional," Cox said during an Ellen DeGeneres Show appearance on May 6, 2021. "It's an unscripted reunion, but we got to be on Stage 24 for the first time, all of us, in ... 17 years."

Although the Alabama native thinks she has “the worst memory,” being around her old costars helped her remember a lot that she thought she’d forgotten.

“We had a lot of special surprises, and it was fantastic. It really was,” she added.

Credit: Shutterstock

Shock and Awe

“It was really emotional, and watching it again … I got emotional all over again,” Kudrow told Extra in May 2021, hours after HBO Max released the first trailer for the reunion special. “It’s also really just so thrilling. We got to be together and [Matt] LeBlanc tells a story like no one else, he is so great. I laugh a lot, that’s my contribution.”

The special, which premieres on the streaming service on May 27, will also feature a lot of special guests, including Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Reese Witherspoon. “I was surprised. We all were. There’s a lot of big open mouths,” the HouseBroken star said of the cameos.

Credit: Giphy/NBC

A Table Read

The cast is set to perform a table read of season 4's "The One with The Jellyfish" and will act out a reimagining of the trivia game that led to Joey and Chandler moving into Monica and Rachel's apartment in "The One With the Embryos."

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