Fans of Friends have been waiting for a revival or reunion for years, and while there’s one in development at HBO Max, they missed a big opportunity for waiting too long, as April 4, 2020, would have been the perfect day for it. Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, Friends premiered on NBC in 1994 and came to an end in 2004 after 10 seasons full of ups and downs and a lot of jokes. Friends is now regarded as one of the best TV shows of all time and continues to be quite popular, in big part thanks to its time at Netflix.
Friends is now waiting for its new home, HBO Max, to launch, but in the meantime, Warner decided to work on the highly anticipated and long overdue reunion, which will be an HBO Max exclusive. This Friends reunion isn’t a revival, as it’s not a season or single episode for viewers to catch up with Phoebe, Monica, Rachel, Joey, Chandler, and Ross, but a reunion of the cast and creators where they talk about the show, their experiences, share some behind-the-scenes moments, etc.
Fans of the series have been waiting for a proper revival for years, and the reunion is intended to suffice (for a while, at least), but Warner waited too long to make it happen, and they actually missed a perfect day for it: April 4, 2020, and it’s an important one in-universe.
Friends: Emma’s 18th Birthday Would Have Been The Perfect Reunion Episode
Though each main character had its own problems, Friends focused heavily on Ross and Rachel’s relationship. The pair ended up having a daughter together, Emma, and got back together at the end of the series. Ross and Rachel maintained a close relationship so they could raise Emma together, and the whole group got together to celebrate her first birthday. Season 10’s episode “The One With The Cake” was all about Rachel and Ross’ efforts to make Emma’s birthday a memorable one, and even asked all attendees to record a message for Emma so she could watch it on her 18th birthday. Emma was born on April 4, 2002, and this year marks her 18th birthday.
It would have been the perfect day for a Friends reunion as it would have been an actual in-universe reason for the characters to get together, catch up, and even reminisce some of their best moments. The gang could have also watched the messages they left for Emma 18 years ago (sadly for Phoebe, 2020 doesn’t include floating cities and ant people), and viewers would have gotten to meet their families. It’s a missed opportunity, and now the planned reunion has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. While it won’t be a proper revival, hopefully the Friends reunion will be fun enough to make the long wait worthwhile.