Friends, the iconic series which recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of its debut on NBC (September 22, 1994), has a reunion in the works.
According to Metro, fans clamoring for this for years began to believe it would come to fruition when Jennifer Aniston finally joined Instagram in October with a teaser photo of the original six cast members. The frenzy nearly caused Instagram to crash.
When asked about a Friends reboot similar to Will & Grace and Murphy Brown in September 2019, the show’s creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman said it would not be appropriate to do a reboot because the show focused on the characters in their 20s, a pivotal time where friends, career, and love are utmost priorities. A reboot with the characters now in their 50s could not have the same focus.
Obviously, things have changed, and this is more than an idle rumor. The details are not yet known; however, an unscripted special is possible on HBO’s streaming service launching in 2020, HBOMax. All 236 episodes of Friends have been a fixture on Netflix since 2015 but are moving to HBOMax next year. All of the parties are in talks, Warner Brothers Television, HBOMax, Crane, Kauffman, and the original six cast members who have maintained their close relationship with each other for the past 15 years since the show’s final episode aired. Jennifer Aniston went so far as to tell Ellen DeGeneres in October (when she was a guest on her show) that the cast was “working on something.”
While details are being kept under wraps, speculation is that the cast and creators will look back at memories and key moments from the original series which aired from 1994 – 2004.
Will this be enough for Friends fans? Will the reunion special live up to the hype? Only time will tell.
