Coronavirus Keeps ‘Friends’ Apart With HBO Max Special on Hold
The special was supposed to be filmed at the end of March.
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The coronavirus pandemic has put a damper on the upcoming Friends reunion special. The show, which was scheduled to air on streaming platform HBO Max in May has been postponed in the wake of the COVID-19 scare.
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the unscripted episode was set to be shot next week at Stage 24 of the Warner Bros Studio lot in Burbank, where the original NBC series was filmed. A new date has not been set as yet as it is unclear when any programming would be able to resume work. Most productions have been shut down as people have begun to self-quarantine and practice social distancing to stem the spread of the virus.
Rumours of a reunion have been going around since last year when the Warner Bros platform took over the streaming rights to Friends from Netflix. The cast of the popular sitcom - Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer - confirmed the news in late February.
The special was to be directed by Ben Winston with Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane as executive producers. Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry, and Schwimmer, with Emma Conway and James Longman were also to be credited as executive producers. While a date hadn’t been confirmed, the special was expected to air when the platform goes live in May.
(With inputs from PTI)
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