Friends reunion – as it happened: How to watch, reactions, best moments and all the latest on HBO Max special
Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Matthew Perry reunited for the first time in front of TV cameras
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The Friends reunion has finally been released. Could we be anymore excited?
The long-awaited programme debuted on 27 May on HBO Max in the US, with UK viewers able to stream it on NOW. The special, titled Friends: The Reunion, also aired on Sky One.
Originally announced in 2020, the special was extensively delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Taping took place in April on the original Friends soundstage at the Warner Bros Studio lot in Burbank, California.
The show, which was hosted by James Corden, marked the first time all six original stars – Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Matthew Perry – reunited in front of television cameras.
A number of revelations were made during the episode including that David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston were “crushing” on each other during filming.
Mysteries were solved, such as the one surrounding the overhead beam in Monica’s apartment that suddenly disappears without explanation at some point in the series.
A host of guest stars joined in too, including a special duet performance of “Smelly Cat” by Lady Gaga and Kudrow. Reese Witherspoon, David Beckham, Justin Bieber, and BTS also made appearances, alongside Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Kit Harington, Mindy Kaling, and Malala Yousafzai.
Follow the release of the reunion special as it happened with our live blog:
Hello and welcome to our Friends reunion live blog, where we will bring you all the updates about the long-awaited special. Could we BE anymore excited?
Do you know how many episodes Friends had in total? 236. Do you know how I know that? Because I once ranked them ALL from best to worst. View my magnum opus below:
HBO Max recently unveiled an official trailer for the much-awaited reunion special.
All six actors are seen in the set of Monica’s apartment playing a trivia game, with David Schwimmer asking the questions. The sequence is reminiscent of a season four sequence in which Monica, Rachel, Joey, and Chandler faced off in a trivia contest to decide who would live in Monica’s home.
Watch this scene and the trailer in full in the story below:
Jennifer Aniston weighs in on whether Ross and Rachel were on a break in the official Friends reunion trailer
Special airs on 27 May on HBO Max
The One Where it All Began... In October 2019, Jennifer Aniston joined Instagram. Her first post was a photo of herself with her five former Friends co-stars, which promptly stoked rumours of a possible reunion.
Those rumours became reality in February 2020, when HBO Max officially announced a reunion was underway. At the time, the streaming service planned to have the special on its catalogue at the time of its launch in May 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic caused delays in production.
The special eventually taped last month on the original Friends soundstage in Burbank, California.
Matthew Perry recently opened up about the “very seriously emotional experience” of returning to the Friends set.
He and his co-stars spoke (in two separate groups) to Good Morning America in the lead-up to the reunion.
“I knew it was going to be a really seriously emotional experience, and it has been,” Perry told the ABC programme.
You can read his remarks in full – as well as Courteney Cox’s – in the story below:
Matthew Perry opens up about ‘very seriously emotional experience’ on Friends set
All six original stars returned to Friends soundstage for upcoming reunion
If you’re trying to arrange your viewing plans to watch the special, here’s all the practical information you need to know:
When is the Friends reunion?
The much-anticipated special will air this month after being delayed by the coronavirus pandemic
And here’s our four-star review of the Friends reunion – guaranteed spoiler-free! “Did we need a Friends reunion? Not really. Is the person who convinced Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai to confess to being “a Joey with a hint of Phoebe” actually a genius? Probably. Was this 100-minute tribute to the world’s biggest sitcom as pointless as it was a total joy? Absolutely,” writes Adam White.
The Friends reunion is pointless and occasionally eerie, but for the most part a total joy – review
Even James Corden can’t totally sink this much-anticipated reunion, which serves up cameos, tears and worthwhile nostalgia
Let’s take a look at Twitter... It seems like fans are counting the hours until the reunion finally becomes available to stream. Excitement is in the air!
“Depending on how old you were and what was happening in your life when you first discovered it, Friends will hold a different meaning. Gen Xers, in the throes of young adulthood when the series debuted, are now witnessing their teenage children race through a decade’s worth of Central Perk hijinks thanks to Netflix.”
Lauren Pinnington reflects on why Friends has always mattered, and how the show has maintained an undeniable pop culture alchemy:
Warmth, wisecracks and will they/won’t theys: Why Friends has always mattered
The famed US sitcom has had its cringe moments and misfires but its popularity across the decades has rarely waned. As a reunion one-off airs this week, Lauren Pinnington remembers the series’ undeniable pop culture alchemy
While promoting the reunion special, Jennifer Aniston named her ex-husband Brad Pitt as one of her favourite guest stars to ever appear on Friends.
The couple were married from 2000-2005. Pitt appeared on Friends in 2001 as a former classmate of Aniston’s character Rachel Green in the season eight episode “The One With the Rumour”.
Read all about it in the story below:
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