At long last, the “Friends” reunion special is finally dropping on HBO Max.
If you’re a fan, you’re probably thinking: could I be any more excited?
Who is returning? What exactly will it be? When and where can you watch?
Here’s everything you need to know about the “Friends” reunion:
Who:
The entire six-person main cast reunites, including Matthew Perry (Chandler), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), David Schwimmer (Ross), Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Courteney Cox (Monica) and Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe). This will be the first official televised reunion of all six stars, as Perry did not attend “An All-Star Tribute to James Burrow” back in 2016.
It will also feature Elliott Gould (Jack Geller), Larry Hankin (Mr. Heckles), Thomas Lennon (Joey’s hand twin), Christina Pickles (Judy Geller), Tom Selleck (Richard Burke), James Michael Tyler (Gunther), Maggie Wheeler (Janice) and Reese Witherspoon (Jill Greene), as well as guests David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, James Corden, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Kit Harington, Lady Gaga, Mindy Kaling and Malala Yousafzai.
What:
The unscripted reunion special will be a one-off titled “The One Where They Got Back Together.” The actors will not be in character, but rather join host James Corden for a sit-down conversation about the show’s best moments from 1994-2004. There’s no word yet on a runtime, but a recent “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” reunion special ran 75 minutes.
When:
The reunion will premiere on Thursday. If you’re a night owl, you can watch it starting at 3 a.m. Eastern. More likely, you can watch it with your morning cup of coffee from Central Perk or when you get home from work on Thursday evening. The original air date was intended to be March 23, 2020, but it was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Where:
The reunion is exclusive to HBO Max, marking its one-year anniversary after launching on May 27, 2020. The streaming service has over 44 million subscribers at $14.99 per month. On July 9, 2019, HBO Max struck a $425 million deal to acquire the U.S. streaming rights to all 236 episodes of “Friends.” You can also catch reruns on TBS.
Why:
Why is there a “Friends” reunion? Because it’s one of the most popular sitcoms ever. To this day, its series finale remains the fourth highest-rated ever at 65.9 million viewers, behind only “Seinfeld” (76.3 million), “Cheers” (84.4. million) and “M*A*S*H” (105.9 million), records that will likely stand forever due to audience splintering across platforms.
How:
How is this all going to go down? We don’t want to spoil anything for you, but the trailer shows the six cast members back on the iconic set of Monica and Rachel’s New York apartment. They spoof the hilarious boys vs. girls trivia game where they battled to switch apartments in “The One with the Embryos.” See more for yourself in the trailer below:
