The much-awaited Friends reunion special is reportedly happening, with the show's original cast set to return in their popular roles. According to Deadline, the one-hour-long special will help launch the upcoming streaming service HBO Max, which will also house the entire Friends library, which ran from 1994 to 2004, reports aceshobiz.com. A deal is apparently ready for signing. Reports state the reunion special will be an unscripted affair, with actors Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer expected to return as Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross respectively.
Wall Street Journal has reported that under terms being discussed, each of the six Friends cast members would receive between $2.25 million and $2.5 million. They were reportedly ‘originally offered $1 million, which they turned down.' However, Deadline quoted that the six stars will reportedly be paid between $3 and $4 million for the reunion show. However, a representative for HBO spoke to Fox News addressing the Deadline reports of stars remuneration for their appearance and called them 'speculations'.
Last month, chief content officer for HBO Max Kevin Reilly talked about the project at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, "There's interest all the way around, and yet we can't seem to quite get that interest all aligned to push the button on it, so today, unfortunately, it's still a maybe."
The actors have been open about their interest in reuniting for a professional project, after keeping up with each other in their personal lives. Last year, Aniston spoke to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres about a possible new Friends project saying, “We would love for there to be something, but we don’t know what that something is. So we’re just trying. We’re working on something.” The special reunion show is reportedly going to be a one-time show and its duration won’t be longer than an hour. The episode will be around the theme of ‘a retrospective and interviews with the cast’ and probably be hosted by Ellen.
Although the series ran from 1994 to 2004, but it has found a new lease of life on Netflix where it was the second most-watched show in 2018, according to Nielsen data. The stars’ official reunion took nearly two decades but their unofficial meetings and outings have often made headlines and gone viral. Their social media PDA always becomes big news.
On Thursday, Matthew managed to break the internet after Jennifer Aniston when he became the last entrant from the group to join Instagram. He was heartily welcomed by Kudrow, Aniston and Cox. Kudrow shared a throwback picture of herself with Perry and Aniston wrote, "Yay Matty! Could you take any longer?"
(Source: IANS/Deadline/Fox News/HBO/Wall Street Journal)
