The highly anticipated Friends reunion special from HBO Max will begin shooting next week in Los Angeles, according to Deadline. Production on the unscripted special was previously delayed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The show will feature all six of the original cast members—Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Courteney Cox (Cougar Town), Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback), Matt LeBlanc (Episodes), Matthew Perry (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) and David Schwimmer (Intelligence)—as they gather at the comedy’s original soundstage on the Warner Bros. Studio lot, according to Deadline.
Details about the reunion special have been kept under wraps, but Schwimmer recently teased to BBC talkshow host Graham Norton via Deadline, “There is one section of it that I don’t want to give away, but we all read something.”
Greg Grande, the set designer for Friends, shared a new set photo of Monica’s iconic apartment in an Instagram post on Wednesday, according to Digital Spy. Grande wrote the caption: “Sssh! Somethings happening, deja vu… coming alive once again! ❤️ #friends #monicasapt #friendsreunion.” The post has since been deleted from Instagram.
The reunion special was initially planned to be released for the launch of HBO Max last year. Fans expected that a new episode of the series would be produced, but HBO Max later released a statement clarifying that the “cast will be appearing as themselves, not as their beloved characters,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.