It’s hard to believe that 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of the premiere of Friends. While in theory, everyone should have moved on from the biggest sitcom of the ’90s by now, Friends is actually more popular than ever. Fans have been begging for a reunion for years, and now it seems like we might finally get our wish.
- HBO Max is leading the talks. HBO tends to make/get some of the best programming out there right now, so it’s a positive sign that they’re the ones leading the talks to make a Friends reunion a reality, according to Deadline. HBO just bought the rights to air reruns of Friends for $425 million, so having a reunion to accompany it would be pretty sweet.
- Unfortunately, it is still in the “talks” stage so far. That means nothing has been set in stone or agreed upon, so it’s not even a guarantee that this will happen. However, the fact that the cast and HBO are even open to talks is a good sign, so hopefully things will work out.
- Jennifer Aniston has sort of hinted at a reunion. During a recent appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Aniston coyly replied that “we’re working on something” when asked whether or not the Friends gang would ever be reunited.
- It’ll likely only be a one-off. Aniston said during the same interview that they had no plans whatsoever to do a reboot, meaning we shouldn’t expect the show to return for multiple episodes. That could mean that we’d get a one-off special or maybe even a movie, but that’s about it.
- We need to not let our greed get in the way of common sense. While it would be great to see the Friends cast together again, a reunion would need to be done carefully and it really would need to be a one-off. As series co-creator Marta Kauffman rightfully said at a 25th anniversary panel for the show at the Tribeca Film Festival this year, “It’s not going to beat what we did.” The original show was so magical and reboots/reunions rarely live up to the original. We need to let things be great and then let them go. Otherwise, we risk losing the glory of the original.
- That being said, I’m obviously tuning in. I mean, who wouldn’t? Could I be more excited about this?
