The comeback of Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Ross, Joey and Chandler all in one room for a ‘Friends’ reunion special has been halted amid coronavirus pandemic. It becomes the latest show to be affected by the popular COVID-19.
Filming for the one-off episode was set to begin next Monday and Tuesday, but according to sources COVID-19 outbreak has pushed back production to somewhere around May. As it stands now, a formal date for the HBO Max show has not been set yet.
News about the reunion special came in last month, when all six characters shared the news via their Instagram handles with a throwback photo as teaser captioned, ‘It’s happening’.
The Hollywood Reporter confirms that the deal for the special was closed when Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer received double amount in payment from their original earning 25 years ago when the show started. The figure stands at $2.5 million and $3 million income per episode for the special. All six will also executive-produce the show.
Show creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman are also returning for the special.
HBO Max scored streaming rights over ‘Friends’ at the end last year in a negotiation deal that ended in $85 million per year for five years ($425 million) as against the Netflix offer that stood at $80 million to $100 million.
