Warner Bros.This is more exciting than when Rachel got off the plane.
After months of heavy speculation, it looks like the long-awaited Friends reunion could actually be happening and I couldn’t BE anymore excited.
It’s claimed after a long negotiation period, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry have finally come to an agreement with series’ producer Warner Bros to do an hour-long unscripted special.
Warner Bros.According to reports in Deadline, all six of the stars will be paid somewhere between $3 million and $4 million for the show, which will help launch the upcoming streaming platform HBO Max, where Friends will be one of the main attractions.
The special will rack up a total bill of around $20 million, reports say, which is in line with what Netflix has been dishing out for hour-long specials with top comedians, including Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Ellen DeGeneres and Amy Schumer.
Friends co-creators and executive producers Marta Kauffman and David Crane are expected to have some involvement in the special, after HBO Max shelled out $425 million for the rights to the iconic sitcom.
Warner Bros. Television DistributionIt comes after the pair shut down rumours of a potential reboot or scripted reunion, which would revisit the characters and previous storylines, at the recent 25th anniversary.
Speaking at Tribeca TV Festival in September last year, Kauffman said:
We will not be doing a reunion show, we will not be doing a reboot.
The show was about that time in life when friends are your family. It’s not going to beat what we did.
The Friends stars have been spending a notable amount of time together, regularly sharing cosy snaps on Instagram.
Matthew Perry recently became the final cast member to join the picture sharing app, having already racked up an impressive 1.8 billion followers (at the time of writing), without even posting a single picture!
The actor had teased his Twitter followers on Wednesday night, February 5, with a cryptic tweet reading: ‘Big news coming…’
While he’s yet to make an actual post, his co-star Lisa uploaded a throwback snap to commemorate the occasion, writing: ‘Finally!!! Yay!! Can’t believe my eyes MY EYES. Welcome to Instagram @mattyperry4 #friendsforlife’.
Come on, guys. We can’t take the suspense any longer.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.