It’s been more than 15 years since Friends‘ final episode aired, however, the show’s popularity only increased in the years since with its availability on Netflix in the US and Stan in Australia.
While we’ve been hearing rumours of a reunion episode for years now, it’s now finally official with Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow all confirming their involvement.
The cast is set to return for an unscripted special with HBO Max, who will own the streaming rights to the show in the States.
And they’re getting paid a silly amount of money for it.
Sources have told Variety that each of the six stars will receive at least $2.5 million for participating in the reunion special.
It almost sounds like chump change when you consider the fact that the cast earns around $20 million each a year in royalties from the show yearly according to a report by USA Today.
The reunion will mark the first time all six Friends cast members will be together publicly since the show ended.
Variety reports the special will air exclusively on HBO Max and will appear in May when the streaming service launches.
Kevin Reilly, chief content officer at HBO Max and President of TBS, TNT, and truTV said in a statement, “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.”
He added, “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.”
Friends executive producers Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane will executive produce the special which will be directed by Ben Winston. The cast will also serve as executive producers.
The special will be recorded at the Stage 24 soundstage at the Warner Bros. Studio Lot where Friends was originally shot.
It will be a celebration of the series and not a scripted episode, which, honestly, sounds perfect.