The cast of Friends is on a break no longer. HBO Max confirmed today that a reunion of the original six cast members (Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer) will help kick off the streaming service in May 2020.
The untitled, unscripted special will be the first time all six of the Central Perk gang will be on the same stage since the show ended its 10-season run in 2004. The setting for such an anticipated meet-up? Friends‘ original soundstage, Stage 24, on the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank. The special will coincide with the debut of HBO Max that same month and the release of all 236 episodes of the series, which left Netflix at the end of 2019.
“Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together—we are reuniting with David, Jennifer, Courteney, Matt, Lisa, and Matthew for an HBO Max special that will be programmed alongside the entire Friends library,” Kevin Reilly, chief content officer, HBO Max and president, TBS, TNT, and truTV, confirmed in a statement. “I became aware of Friends when it was in the very early stages of development and then had the opportunity to work on the series many years later and have delighted in seeing it catch on with viewers generation after generation. It taps into an era when friends—and audiences—gathered together in real time and we think this reunion special will capture that spirit, uniting original and new fans.”
Original Friends producers Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman, and David Crane will co-executive produce the special alongside the six cast members. The reunion event will be directed by Ben Winston, who will also executive produce alongside Emma Conway and James Longman.
News of the special comes more than a month after talks reportedly stalled over financial negotiations with the cast. It also comes at a time when each of the original cast members is on Instagram. Naturally, each co-star confirmed the news by sharing the same group photo with the caption, “It’s happening…”