HBO Max excited audiences all over the world when it announced Friends: The Reunion, a special that saw the cast of the beloved sitcom reunite almost two decades after the series' end. For the stars of the hit show, the reunion was harder to film than they thought it would be. Not just because it was filmed during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Jennifer Aniston, speaking on the Literally! With Rob Lowe podcast, explained, "I think it really took us all down way harder than we anticipated." She continued, "Because in your mind, you think, 'Oh, this will be really fun to time travel.' It turns out, oh, ouch - it's kind of hard to time travel. Because you're going back to a time and mind you it is when I say the set was put back exactly, it was the exact same everything. Down to the little tchotchkes on the shelve and little tiny things that had been in a storage space for this whole time. All of a sudden, here you are. And, you know, 16 years, a lot has gone on for each of us."
Shifting to the experience of filming the reunion, Aniston said, "Going back there, it's nostalgic in a way that's kind of also a little melancholy, you know... Because a lot has changed and we have all gone down different roads, not so easy and some easy." She added, "It was brutal, and also you can't turn it off. There's cameras everywhere and I can't stop crying....There was a period where we were all kind of in a puddle. Maybe David didn't (cry), I don't think we broke David. But even LeBlanc broke at one point. You know, Mr. Tough Guy....Even he got a little misty."
Friends: The Reunion was reported to have been watched by approximately 29 percent of streaming households in the United States when it released on HBO Max. Its numbers almost surpassed Wonder Woman 1984, which garnered 32 percent of streaming households in the U.S. when it premiered on Christmas Day.
The special faced a number of delays, owing to the fact that the cast and producers believed that it needed to be filmed in front of a live studio audience. The pandemic and associated health and safety restrictions made that borderline impossible. Friends: The Reunion was filmed across 2020 and completed in April 2021 before airing in May. Hosted by James Corden, the special was comprised of table readings, an interview, guest appearances and more.
Source: YouTube