Filming date confirmed for Friends reunion

It was postponed due to the pandemic

Author: Emma DoddsPublished 19th Jun 2020
Last updated 19th Jun 2020

Back in May, show bosses at HBO revealed they were hoping to get the Friends reunion filmed by the end of the summer. And now, the show's co-creator, Marta Kauffman, has teased fans by revealing that they are starting to put plans in place for filming to commence in mid-to-late August.

After the special was confirmed back in February, the reunion was sadly postponed in March - when filming was due to start - because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Marta has now spoken about when filming will resume, giving all the Friends fanatics a bit of hope!

When will the Friends reunion air?

"We are hoping to be able to shoot in August, if all is well and there is no early second wave and the studio is open. If everything is in place and we understand all the protocols and we can still make a good show, we’ll be shooting it some time, mid-to-late August" she said.

Back in May, WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer chairman Bob Greenblatt said, "At first we thought, shows will be delayed for a month or two at the most, and now it seems like it’s going to be far longer than that," he admitted to the publication. "We’re holding out for being able to get this special done hopefully by the end of the summer, if the stars align and hopefully we can get back into production."

YAY!

He also went on to say why the reunion would not be filmed from the actors' respective homes, as so many other TV shows have done, "We do think there’s a value to having a big, raucous live audience to experience these six great friends coming back together and we didn’t want to just suddenly do it on a web call with, you know, six squares and people shooting from their kitchens and bedrooms.

"But at the moment, we’re trying to look to the future and get this thing done in a more conventional way, and I think it’s worth waiting for. We would have loved to have had it on HBO Max on Day One, but at the same time, if we can get it launched in the fall, I think it’ll be something that we can have the audience really looking forward to as well."

The cast of Friends

Why was the Friends reunion postponed?

Reports first surfaced that the Friends reunion would be postponed due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) back in March. The one-hour special will see Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, Matt Le Blanc, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston discussing the show.

The Hollywood Reporter reported that filming would not go ahead as planned on 23rd and 24th March, according to studio Warner Bros and home streaming service HBO Max.

The publication reported, "A formal filming date has not yet been determined as it's unclear when any programming will be able to resume production."

The cast members all announced the news on their Instagram profiles with the same photo back in February, tagging each other.

What will the Friends reunion be about?

Monica Geller actress Courteney Cox spoke about the reunion at the end of February, confirming that it would be a look back at the old series, rather than a new, acted-out episode.

In an interview with Kevin Nealon on Hiking with Kevin, Courteney explained, "So the exciting thing is that we're all going to get together for the first time, in a room, and actually talk about the show, and it's going to be on HBO Max, and I'm so excited.

"We're going to have the best time. It's going to be great. We really haven't all done that and actually sat there and talked about and reminisced about this incredible experience that we had. It's gonna be fantastic."

Lisa Kudrow has now spoken out about the reunion too, telling Entertainment Weekly, "I haven’t seen some of the later episodes, to be honest. And then I don’t rewatch them. So it’s really fun to talk about things.

"Someone remembers it one way and someone remembers something else about it altogether, and I don’t know, it’s really fun. It’s great. And then some people have phenomenal memories. Jennifer remembers everything and LeBlanc remembers everything. And I remember nothing.

"When we have been able to get together — I think that’s maybe twice and not even all of us — some people remember stuff the rest of us don’t remember at all. And then it’s fantastic. It’s like you’re being introduced to something that everybody else knows that you forgot."

Scroll through to see which TV shows we can't wait to return:

We'll keep you updated!

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