HBO Max’s Friendsreunion special has faced another setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But Jennifer Aniston continues to be hopeful.
“It’s going to be super,” she told Deadline. “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. Look, we’re not going anywhere. You’re never going to get rid of Friends, sorry. You’re stuck with us for life guys.”
The unscripted special will feature the full original cast of Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry. It was set to be taped on the same soundstage on the Warner Bros. lot, with a live audience, executive produced by the cast along with creators Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman, and David Crane. It's worth noting Kudrow confirmed earlier this year that they'll "reminisce, talk about what was going on behind the scenes. It's not us playing our characters. It's not an episode."
Coronavirus complications shut down all production in March and made having a live audience impossible. The taping was pushed to May 2020, with the goal to align its premiere with HBO Max’s launch on May 27. Now there's no definite date to resume production, with Variety's sources saying filming won’t take place until May 2021 "at the earliest."
“Unfortunately it’s very sad that we had to move it again,” Aniston told Deadline. “It was, ‘How do we do this with live audiences?’ This is not a safe time. Period. That’s the bottom line. It’s not a safe time to do it.”
The Friends reunion was first announced in February. The special was going to help launch HBO Max, where all 10 seasons of the series are now exclusively streaming. WarnerMedia reportedly purchased the rights to the show for over $400 million, outbidding Netflix, where Friends previously resided.
