“Friends: The Reunion”, also known as “The One Where They Get Back Together”, is a 2021 reunion special of the American television sitcom ‘Friends.’ The Late Late Show writer Ben Winston directed the show. He’s also an executive producer. The special is hosted by James Corden and executive produced by the show’s co-creator, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, Kevin S. Bright, the show’s main cast, and Ben Winston. In May 2021, a teaser trailer was released announcing that the reunion special was scheduled to be released on May 27, 2021, on HBO Max. The ‘FRIENDS: THE REUNION’ special streams exclusively on ZEE5 in India.
Due to the pandemic-induced production shut down, the shooting of the reunion episode was delayed several times. The special was filmed in Los Angeles, California, at Stage 24, also known as “The Friends Stage” at Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, where Friends had been filmed since its second season. The filming of the reunion began in April 2021. Show guest stars Danny DeVito, Ben Stiller, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, and Sean Penn were mentioned and shown via archive footage.
Can you watch the reunion episode for free?
No, you can not. Anyone with a subscription to ZEE5 can watch Friends: The Reunion. In case you don’t have a subscription, you can purchase one for Rs 499 for a year.
Who was a part of the episode?
Friends actors Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer were back to reminisce about their days on the show.
Special guests
The reunion episode saw guest appearances by David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, James Corden, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Lady Gaga, Elliott Gould, Kit Harington, Larry Hankin, Mindy Kaling, Thomas Lennon, Christina Pickles, Tom Selleck, James Michael Tyler, Maggie Wheeler, Reese Witherspoon and Malala Yousafzai.
For this iconic reunion, the six stars of ‘Friends’ were paid a fat cheque. Matt Le Blanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, and Jennifer Aniston received a little over Rs 18 crore, per actor. The actors were paid $2.5 million for their participation in the ‘Friends Reunion,’ reported Variety.
‘Friends’ revolved around six friends in their 20s and 30s who live in Manhattan, New York City. It also received acclaim throughout its run, becoming one of the most popular television shows of all time.
Watch trailer here:
The Friends Reunion special episode is currently streaming on HBO Max and ZEE5.
The special was also released internationally simultaneously with the U.S. release on Sky One and Now in the United Kingdom and Italy, Foxtel Now and Binge in Australia, TVNZ 2 and TVNZ OnDemand in New Zealand, OSN in the United Arab Emirates, HBO Go, and HBO Asia in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and HBO Nordic in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland.
In China, the special was streamed on iQIYI, Youku, and Tencent Video, although the scenes featuring Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and BTS have been removed. LGBTQ references and references to urine in the special were also removed. In Japan, the special was exclusively released on U-NEXT on 31 May 2021.
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