The Friends have come awfully close to a full-on reunion in the past everyone except Perry showed up for the 2016 tribute to James Burrows, who directed the pilot and several other episodes and helped shape the show forever more. The website's critics consensus is, "It may work best for die-hards, but when it cuts out the noise and focuses on the connections Friends: The Reunion is as warm and comforting as a night in the café." On Metacritic, the special has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100 indicating "generally favorable reviews" based on 27 critics.The Friends reunion premieres Thursday, May 27 on HBO Max. HBO Max announced the release date and shared a teaser for the reunion earlier in May.Īll six stars came together for the reunion. Although the entire cast of Friends has gathered together since the show ended - a photo of one such gathering launched Aniston's Instagram presence - the reunion special will mark the first time that all six stars will be together in front of studio cameras since the finale. On Rotten Tomatoes, the special has an approval rating of 66% based on 44 reviews, with an average score of 6.7/10. In South Africa, the special was aired on MNET(DStv) on and was released for streaming on Showmax on. In Vietnam, the special was streamed on FPT Play and VieOn with Vietnamese subtitles being hardsubbed. In Japan, the special was exclusively released on U-NEXT on. LGBTQ references and references to urine in the special were also removed.
In China, the special was streamed on iQIYI, Youku and Tencent Video, although the scenes featuring Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and BTS have been removed. release on Sky One and Now in the United Kingdom and Italy, Foxtel Now and Binge in Australia, TVNZ 2 and TVNZ OnDemand in New Zealand, ZEE5 in India, OSN in the United Arab Emirates, HBO Go and HBO Asia in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and HBO Nordic in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.
The special was also released internationally simultaneously with the U.S. The HBO Max release includes five bonus clips that were cut from the special as extras. In May 2021, a teaser trailer was released announcing that the reunion special was scheduled to be released on May 27, 2021, on HBO Max.
The reunion special was originally set to be released with the launch of HBO Max on May 27, 2020, along with the 236 episodes of the original series that were available at launch. PEOPLE Magazine released an exclusive inside story on the making of the reunion a week prior.Each one gave advice to their past selves (and agreed they should have done season 11).Jennifer Aniston channeled her "Rachel" character during it.Ellen Degeneres was planning hosting it, but it was disproved. Justin Bieber was apparently supposed to make a cameo. įilming was in front of a live audience of COVID screened fans. The iconic fountain from the opening credits is also supposed to appear. Filming went underway in April 2021 after it was delayed twice (Mato August 2020). The stage had been used since 1995's season 2. The episode was taped in LA on the Friends Stage (stage 24) of the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank. Warner Brothers Television would also have a role in making it. Įxecutive producers for the show would be the entire main cast and creators, as well as Ben Winston, who would direct through Fulwell 73.
The 'unscripted' name did not turn up until February 21, 2020. Television was making the reunion and it would feature everyone back together. The Hollywood Reporter stated on Novemthat Warner Bros.