With rumours surfacing over the last few months regarding a revisit to the most beloved sitcom of all time, fans were certainly itching to get something more to watch than their 11th rerun of Friends. Fortunately for them, their wish has been granted. Nearly 16 years after the last episode aired, HBO has decided to record an unscripted special as a lead-up to the networkâs streaming platform debut with HBO Max, later this May. 

Actress Courtney Cox, who played the beloved role of Monica for 10 seasons, shared this fun image on her Instagram, announcing the special.

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry have all signed up already and will reunite at the original Friends soundstage, Stage 24, on the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank. According to Variety, the showrunners will receive at least $2.5 million for being a part of the special.

Showrunners Martha Kaufman and David Crane will also be executive producing the special, as Hollywood production heavyweight Ben Winston heads for the directorâs chair.

Friends, which traded hands between Netflix and HBO late last year, has seen sales in physical and digital versions of the show âtripleâ as it went off streaming platforms, showing without a doubt that the series is still one of the best money makers in TV. Along with the special, HBO Max plans to release every episode of the series for viewing on the platform, and to access all of this goodness, itâll cost you roughly $15, which amounts to just under Rs 1,100 a month. Not exactly cheap, but weâre sure that diehard fans will go ahead regardless. 

âGuess you could call this the one where they all got back together â we are reuniting with David, Jennifer, Courteney, Matt, Lisa, and Matthew for an HBO Max special that will be programmed alongside the entire âFriendsâ library,â said Kevin Reilly, chief content officer at HBO Max and president of TBS, TNT, and truTV, in a statement.

âI became aware of âFriendsâ 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 â and audiences â gathered together in real time and we think this reunion special will capture that spirit, uniting original and new fans.â

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