Show bosses at HBO have revealed they're hoping to get the Friends reunion filmed by the end of the summer.
After it was confirmed back in February the reunion was abruptly postponed in March - when filming was due to start - due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Although it was still planned to go ahead, there had been no word on when filming might resume...until now.
WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer chairman Bob Greenblatt has finally given an update to Variety about when we can expect to see the one-off special.
"At first we thought, shows will be delayed for a month or two at the most, and now it seems like it’s going to be far longer than that," he admitted to the publication. "We’re holding out for being able to get this special done hopefully by the end of the summer, if the stars align and hopefully we can get back into production."
HOORAH.
He also went on to say why the reunion would not be filmed from the actors' respective homes, as so many other TV shows have done, "We do think there’s a value to having a big, raucous live audience to experience these six great friends coming back together and we didn’t want to just suddenly do it on a web call with, you know, six squares and people shooting from their kitchens and bedrooms.
Friends cast: then and now
The cast of Friends: Before and after
1 of 10Chandler Bing | Matthew Perry
After his role as funny-guy Chandler Bing came to an end, Matthew Perry went on to star in a host of A-list films, including a main part alongside Zac Efron in 17 Again. Sadly for Friends fans, he shut down a friends reunion in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2017 . He said, "I have this recurring nightmare—I'm not kidding about this. When I'm asleep, I have this nightmare that we do Friends again and nobody cares. We do a whole series, we come back, and nobody cares about it. So if anybody asks me, I'm gonna say no. The thing is: we ended on such a high. We can't beat it. Why would we go and do it again?"
2 of 10Phoebe Buffay | Lisa Kudrow
Following her 10 year stint on Friends, Lisa starred in a host of movies - including Easy A, alongside Emma Stone. In February 2019, fans went wild when Lisa reunited with former co-star Courtney Cox on Ellen DeGeneres' chat show.
3 of 10Joey Tribbiani | Matt LeBlanc
Matt swapped acting for presenting when he replaced Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond on Top Gear in 2016. But after two years on the show, Matt was replaced by Comedian Paddy McGuinness and former cricket player Freddie Flintoff.
4 of 10Rachel Green | Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston has gone on to star in multiple A-list films - and doesn't look a day older than her debut in Friends. The actress was even rumoured to have patched things up with ex Brad Pitt, when he was invited to her 50th birthday party in February 2019.
5 of 10Ross Geller | David Schwimmer
Ross - or rather, David - most recently appeared on our screens in series one of American Crime Story - which presented a dramatised version of the OJ Simpson trial. David played OJ's attorney and old friend, Robert Kardashian - Kim Kardashian's late father.
6 of 10Richard Burke | Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck played Monica's older boyfriend, Dr. Richard Burke in Friends, but he's best known for playing Frank Reagan in CBS's police drama, Blue Bloods.
7 of 10Janice Hosenstein | Maggie Wheeler
Janice was best known for her annoying - yet strangely loveable - laugh in Friends. The actress who played Chandler's girlfriend finally revealed the inspiration behind her laugh over a decade after the sitcom ended. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, she said Woody the Woodpecker gave her inspiration. She revealed, 'There was a character called Arnold Horshack and he used to laugh and he would say [laughs]. Then I grew up watching Flipper which was a fantastic show about a dolphin, and I was in love with that dolphin and of course the dolphin sounds like a dolphin... so I sort of say she's a combination of Arnold Horshack and Flipper and Woody the Woodpecker."
8 of 10Ben Geller | Cole Sprouse
YES, that is Ben. YES, we are as shocked as you are. After playing Ben as a teeny weeny tot on Friends, Cole took on a main role with his twin brother, Dylan Sprouse in Disney's children's series, The Suite Life. Now, Cole can be seen in Riverdale. The actor has clearly done well for himself - and has accumulated an impressive 24 million Instagram followers.
9 of 10Gunther | James Michael Tyler
Ah, Gunther. The fictional character may have never won over his biggest crush, Rachel Green, but actor James Taylor certainly won over viewer's hearts with his acting and top notch barista skills. In an interview for Digital Spy, he revealed that he got the job in the first place because he could work a coffee machine. He said, "I honestly always thought my Masters in fine arts would get me further in the acting world than knowing how to work an espresso machine! That was a happy accident and I'm very, very grateful to have had that skill."
10 of 10Emily Waltham | Helen Baxendale
Helen Baxendale recently starred in BBC three's drama, Cuckoo. But the actress isn't afraid to settle down in front of some lighter tv in her spare time. She told Radio Times, "Well, most reality TV is drivel. I'll tell you what I do really like: First Dates. It's positive TV – they treat people nicely, you come out of it actually liking them. There's hope for humanity in First Dates!"
"But at the moment, we’re trying to look to the future and get this thing done in a more conventional way, and I think it’s worth waiting for. We would have loved to have had it on HBO Max on Day One, but at the same time, if we can get it launched in the fall, I think it’ll be something that we can have the audience really looking forward to as well."
Reports first surfaced that the Friends reunion would be postponed due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) back in March. The one-hour special will see Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, Matt Le Blanc, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston discussing the show.
The Hollywood Reporter reported that filming would not go ahead as planned on 23rd and 24th March, according to studio Warner Bros and home streaming service HBO Max.
The publication reported, "A formal filming date has not yet been determined as it's unclear when any programming will be able to resume production."
The cast members all announced the news on their Instagram profiles with the same photo back in February, tagging each other.
Monica Geller actress Courteney Cox spoke about the reunion at the end of February, confirming that it would be a look back at the old series, rather than a new, acted-out episode.
In an interview with Kevin Nealon on Hiking with Kevin, Courteney explained, "So the exciting thing is that we're all going to get together for the first time, in a room, and actually talk about the show, and it's going to be on HBO Max, and I'm so excited.
"We're going to have the best time. It's going to be great. We really haven't all done that and actually sat there and talked about and reminisced about this incredible experience that we had. It's gonna be fantastic."
We'll keep you posted.