Friends Reunion Now Planning to Shoot in August

One of the flagship pieces of original content that WarnerMedia was planning for their HBO Max streaming service was an official reunion of the cast of Friends. Not new episodes or a revival of the classic sitcom, but a one time gathering of the six lead cast members to reminisce on the good old days of the series. The special was previously scheduled to film in March of this year and was forced to postpone after the spread of the coronavirus. No official details have been revealed since then about plans for the series but co-star David Schwimmer has revealed in a new interview that they could shoot it very soon.

“We’re hoping to shoot it, I think the hope right now is to shoot it in August if, of course, it’s safe to do so,” Schwimmer told The AP. “Part of the plan was always to have a live-audience component of the show. By the way, it’s unscripted, we’re not playing our characters. It’s basically an interview with all six of us reuniting for literally the first time in probably ten years. So we’ll see, I hope it happens in August, if not it’ll be when it’s safe to do so.”

Schwimmer will be joined by his co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry for the special along with series creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman. The actor’s reveal that a “live-audience component” is in the cards for the special is news though, but considering current standards for filming shows in California it’s unclear when they’ll be able to assemble the cast of Friends and an audience to watch.

LeBlanc previously appeared on an episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show (filmed prior to the production shutdown) and opened up about the project referring to it as “the six of us together talking about the good old days.” The actor also said “we got the band back together without the instruments.”

Earlier this summer it was revealed that Cox was actually a motivating factor for her co-stars to sign on for the special with the entire cast meeting at her Malibu beach house to hash it all out. The supposed reunion dinner was probably supposed to be a night for reminiscing, but things quickly took shape. WarnerMedia executives had discussed the plans with Cox earlier that day. Once they laid out their vision for the service, they let the actress’s cozy atmosphere and the power of nostalgia do the rest.

All 236 episodes of Friends are available now on HBO Max with the reunion set to arrive in the not-too-distant future.