After years of fans begging to see the Friends cast reunite in any capacity, Friends: The Reunion premiered on Thursday, May 27 on HBO Max. The beloved sitcom’s stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer returned to the iconic original soundstage—Stage 24 on the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank, California—to celebrate and look back on the show that made them all Hollywood and pop culture royalty.
Friends was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, and aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. The show’s 236 episodes have been watched over 100 billion times around the globe (thanks to streaming services). Now viewers got to see as the cast walked into the famous set one by one 17 years after the show’s finale aired on NBC to relive all their memories in a two-hour special—and it was just as emotional as expected.
The actors cried as they reminisced while walking through the set where it all began in 1994. They all fell right into a rhythm and the familiarity they built during their unforgettable 10 years on the show. They all continued with their acting careers post-Friends, but watching them interact as they walked down memory lane showed that the reunion was meaningful not just to the fans but to the cast as well. Reboots and reunions have gotten such a bad rep over the years, but there’s magic in seeing people return to their roots.
The cast sat down with host James Corden and they chatted about their most memorable episodes, their auditions, off-screen romances, injuries on set, and behind-the-scenes moments, which all contributed to making the show an undeniable success and a cultural phenomenon. Take a look below for the biggest takeaways from the long-awaited Friends: The Reunion special, available now on HBO Max. Major spoilers ahead!