A Friends Reunion Special Is Reportedly in the Works at HBO Max

UPDATE: January 18, 2020, 11:39 a.m.: Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it sounds like there’s been a snag in entire production of that highly anticipated Friends reunion. The holdup? Pay negotiations for the original cast. This week HBO Max chief creative officer Kevin Reilly told members of the Television Critics Association, per Deadline, “There is interest all around and yet we can’t get the interests all alighted to push the button on it.”

Deadline adds there is an “eight-figure gap” between what the Friends cast would like to be paid to get the gang back together and what Warner Bros. is willing to offer. The impasse led Reilly to tell the TCA that, as of now, the reunion is “just maybe.”

Could we BE any more upset?

This year has not been kind so far to Friends fans, considering that 2020 started with Netflix pulling the beloved sitcom from its streaming platform. But don’t put away those umbrellas and Central Perk mugs just yet—considering how often the cast is reuniting these days, there’s still hope negotiations will pull through.

See our original story on the reunion news below.

This is not a drill. We repeat, this is not a drill: A Friends reunion special is reportedly being developed by the Warner Bros. yet-to-launch streaming service, HBO Max. (HBO Max will, of course, be the home for all 10 original seasons of Friends when it leaves Netflix.)

The Hollywood Reporter says talks are underway with all six original cast members—Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer—as well as the show’s creators, David Crane and Marta Kauffman.

If it happens, it won't be a reboot but an unscripted reunion. So it’s good to manage your expectations on that front, too. We aren’t going to see what’s happened to Ross and Rachel over the years or how Chandler and Monica’s twins turned out—though I’d hope those would be topics for discussion when the whole cast is back together again.

While various cast members, and Aniston in particular, have been pretty steadfast in saying that a reboot is not happening, she recently hinted at a project—and perhaps this is it. “We would love for there to be something,” she told Ellen DeGeneres. “But we don’t know what that something is. So we’re just trying. We’re working on something.” And a few months before that she said, “Listen, I told you this: I would do it. The girls would do it. And the boys would do it, I’m sure.”

And the Friends cast has been spending time together lately. Aniston launched her Instagram with a photo of the six of them having dinner, and Cox recently posted a photo of her and Perry after a lunch date.

It may not be the reboot many fans have been clamoring for, but we’ll take it—and likely love it.

Originally Appeared on Glamour