Friends reunion special to shoot in August unless there’s coronavirus second wave, Marta Kauffman says

HBO Max special will feature all six main cast members

A planned Friends reunion is set to film in August barring a second wave in the coronavirus pandemic, according to series co-creator Marta Kauffman.

The programme, announced in February, was originally supposed to be available for the launch of HBO Max, but industry-wide shutdowns due to the pandemic have delayed its release.

Now that states are beginning to reopen, Kauffman told The Wrap there’s hope the special could happen in the summer.

“We are hoping to be able to shoot in August, if all is well and there is no early second wave and the studio is open,” she said.

The plan in February was to film the programme on the original Friends sound stage on the Warner Bros Studio lot in Burbank, California.

According to Kauffman, the team behind the special are still looking to make this come true.

“If everything is in place and we understand all the protocols and we can still make a good show, we’ll be shooting it some time, mid-to-late August,” she told the website.

The unscripted special will feature Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry.

It will mark the first time that all six stars are reunited in front of the cameras. A partial reunion happened in 2016 without Perry.

One of the executive producers of the special has previously teased a possible Thanksgiving release for the programme.