Friends: The Reunion

Background

Announced in November 2019 and commissioned as an unscripted special in February 2020, it was meant to launch with HBO Max in May 2020 but was delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic; filming, twice postponed, took place in April 2021 on Stage 24 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, the Friends Stage since season 2. The cast revisit the apartments, Central Perk and the fountain, do table reads and re-enactments, watch behind-the-scenes footage and take a trivia quiz.

Guests include Tom Selleck, Maggie Wheeler, James Michael Tyler, Larry Hankin as Mr. Heckles, Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles, Reese Witherspoon, Lady Gaga singing "Smelly Cat" with Lisa Kudrow, David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Kit Harington, Mindy Kaling and Malala Yousafzai. It was the last on-screen appearance of both Tyler, who died five months later, and Matthew Perry, who died in 2023. Critics were mixed, with a 67 per cent Rotten Tomatoes score, and TVision estimated 29 per cent of US streaming households watched it on its first day.

The HBO Max release includes five bonus clips cut from the special, among them appearances by director James Burrows.