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Friends reunion: The one where they all get back together

Millions of fans are celebrating the reunion special, set to broadcast on HBO Max in May.

Millions of fans are celebrating the reunion special, set to broadcast on HBO Max in May. Photo: Twitter

Friends fans the world over are readying themselves on couches as an exclusive, untitled, unscripted special on HBO Max is set to be broadcast in May with the famous six.

No doubt their iconic one-liners, odd-ball personality traits, quirky mannerisms and corny embellished relationship twists will weave their magic into the special. Hopefully. Please.

Although unscripted, we all want Joey, when he returns to the original Friends soundstage, Stage 24, on the Warner Bros Studio lot at Burbank to ask the global audience, “How you doin’?”

Friends’ Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer will return to celebrate the long-running series, which ended its run 16 years ago in 2004.

Sources close to the situation tell Variety the six stars will receive at least $US2.5 million ($3.8 million) apiece for participating in the special.

The reunion has been hotly anticipated, with speculation about the HBO Max special swirling for months, after the WarnerMedia-created SVOD platform nabbed the streaming rights to the show from Netflix in a deal with Warner Bros Television.

All 10 seasons of the comedy left Netflix at the end of 2019, meaning that Friends has thus far not been available to stream in the US this calendar year – at least, not until HBO Max launches in May.

The special, as well as all 236 episodes of Friends, will be available upon the streaming service’s debut.

They will no doubt be a high-profile part of HBO Max’s appeal as it tries to attract subscribers.

Though the sitcom aired its series finale over 15 years ago, third-party market researchers have said Friends was one of Netflix’s most-watched shows.

And as previously reported, Warner Bros Home Entertainment told Variety that sales of physical and digital versions of Friends have “roughly tripled” since news broke that it would be leaving Netflix.

“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,” said Kevin Reilly, chief content officer at HBO Max and president of TBS, TNT, and truTV, in a statement.

“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.”

Ben Winston will direct the special and executive produce alongside Friends executive producers Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane.

friends

The cast of the hit NBC series Friends listen to Lisa Kudrow sing during one of their last shows on the Warner Bros lot on September 12, 2003 in Burbank, CA.

The series debuted in 1994 and was in its ninth and final season when it finished, winning 44 Emmys, and was one of the biggest successes in television history.

-with AAP

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