'Friends' Reunion Special at HBO Max Gets Major Update Following Months-Long Delay

Friends fans won't have to wait much longer for the highly anticipated reunion! According to Deadline, the reunion special is set to start shooting next week. Sources are said to have confirmed that the unscripted special will be taping in Los Angeles during the second week in April.

The original cast members including Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer will all reunite like back in the day. Ben Winston is set to direct the reunion and the show stars will also executive produce alongside series creators Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman, and David Crane. The highly anticipated return of fans' favorite characters was originally suppose to happen when HBO Max launched in May 2020, but as a result of the pandemic, they were forced to delay.

The cast and crew of the show felt it was necessary to have a live audience for their big return, however, because of COVID-19 protocols, that didn't allow their plan to be a thing for the longest time. "Unfortunately, it's very sad that we had to move it again," Aniston said to the outlet at the time of when the show was moved yet again. "It was, 'How do we do this with live audiences?' This is not a safe time. Period. That's the bottom line. It's not a safe time to do it."

HBO Max Chief Content Officer Kevin Reilly said in a statement that he's excited for audiences to see the special because he feels it "will capture that spirit" that clung on to so many fans when the series was airing regularly. "Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together. 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."

Her fellow co-star Schwimmer told Jimmy Fallon in August that the cast and crew were going to "wait and see another week [...] until it is safe" but were forced to postpone yet again. Now that fans know their favorite crew is getting back in studio, it gives their viewers something to look forward to in the near future.