After multiple delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-awaited special for the iconic comedy series has finally got its official premiere date on HBO Max.
- May 14, 2021
AceShowbiz - "Friends: The Reunion" has boasted an impressive guest line-up. Ahead of the reunion special's premiere, HBO Max unveiled a list of guest stars that will join original cast, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, in revisiting their beloved comedy series.
An Instagram post uploaded on the series' official account revealed that David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS a.k.a. Bangtan Boys, James Corden, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Lady GaGa, Kit Harington, Mindy Kaling, Tom Selleck, Reese Witherspoon and Malala Yousafzai are among those making an appearance on the special. The caption of the May 13 post simply read, "This line up. #FriendsReunion."
Hours earlier, HBO Max dropped the very first teaser trailer for the reunion special. Around 30-second long, it captured all six original cast members walking arm-in-arm away from the camera. While it did not give much, it did uncover its official premiere date to be May 27. The caption of the Instagram post for the teaser read, "The One Where We Get to See Our Favorites Back Together Again."
This unscripted special will see all six original cast get together at their sitcom's original soundstage, Stage 24, on the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank. In April 2020, HBO Max stressed in a statement, "In order to avoid any misunderstanding about what this special is, we want to make it very clear that this is not a new, original episode of the series. The cast will be appearing as themselves, not as their beloved characters."
While it was originally planned to air in 2020, the special dealt with multiple production delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2021, Schwimmer assured that the long-awaited reunion will happen. "Actually, in a little over a month, I'm heading out to Los Angeles," he told Andy Cohen on SiriusXM. "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 film outside because of, you know, for safety protocols."
Though it came to an end in 2004, "Friends" continues to be one of the most popular shows in the world. The series, which premiered in 1994 and lasted 10 seasons, gained new generation of fans when it debuted on Netflix in 2015. Its reunion special will have Ben Winston serving as director and Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane as executive producers.
