The Friends reunion special starts filming next week for HBO Max. After years of fans calling for the return of Friends, a reunion special first appeared to be in the works in 2019. Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer were all reportedly in talks to return for a special that was meant to be among the most significant pieces of exclusive content when HBO Max launched. It wasn't until early 2020 that Warner Bros confirmed the reunion, but it hasn't been easy sailing since then.
The original plan for Friends' reunion was for filming to begin in March 2020, but it had to be delayed once COVID-19 shut down Hollywood for months. This delay has left some uncertainty about when production on the unscripted episode would take place. Recent news pointed to production starting in March of 2021, a full year later than initially planned, but Friends officially missed that window as of two days ago. Thankfully, it now appears that the start of filming is imminent.
According to Deadline, the Friends reunion special begins production next week in Los Angeles. Filming will take place on the original sound stage on Warner Bros.' lot that the show filmed on for ten seasons. All six original stars will be in attendance for filming, along with director Ben Winston and series' creators Marta Kauffman and David Cran. No premiere date has been set on HBO Max.
Once filming begins on Friends' reunion episode, it likely won't be long until production is wrapped. The reunion won't see the actors reprise their roles from the sitcom and require multiple days and takes to get right. Instead, this will follow a similar setup as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's reunion and see the stars of Friends reconnect on the show's original set. This could allow filming to wrap after only a day or two at most.
While many Friends fans hoped the reunion would be here by now, the nature of the reunion show should allow it to come out fairly quickly. The reunion might not actually continue the stories of Chandler, Monica, Ross, Rachel, Joey, and Phoebe, but the special can still give fans an extra dose of the show. Perhaps part of the special will even see the actors speculate about where they think their characters ended up after the Friends finale. In any case, it will still be nice to see the cast and crew together again nearly two decades later.
Source: Deadline