THANK YOU, DEAR LORD! A ‘Friends’ Reunion is Finally Happening

They just might not all be in the same room!

by Adam MS, additional editing by Alex JS

They’re not on a break anymore. Twelve years after the show’s finale, the Friends cast will finally reunite on NBC this February. Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer will all take part in a new special honoring director James Burrows on Sunday, Feb. 21, NBC head Bob Greeblatt confirmed at the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Wednesday according to E News.

“I’m hoping all six will be in the same room at same time,” NBC’s Robert Greenblatt told reporters. “I’m not sure we can logistically can pull it off.” What’s the obstacle? None of the cast members are insanely busy these days. Aniston, usually the busiest of the bunch, is currently filming the war movie Yellow Birds in Atlanta. But her role is a supporting one and Atlanta is only a short plane ride away. Kudrow could be be filming her small role in The Girl on the Train in New York, and Schwimmer might be busy promoting the upcoming seasons of American Crime Story, but those shouldn’t be deal breakers. Actually, the biggest obstacle to a complete reunion might be LeBlanc, who is filming the fifth season of his series Episodes in London this year.

But is there something beyond scheduling conflicts preventing these six from being in the same room? We know Kudrow, Aniston, and Cox all get along. They staged a mini-Friends reunion for Jimmy Fallon just last year. But there were some rumblings last summer that there might be trouble in the Friends paradise when Perry and LeBlanc weren’t invited to Aniston’s wedding to Justin Theroux. “I wasn’t invited. So what can you do?,” Perry told the press. “If she wanted me there, I would have been there,” LeBlanc added. Both actors went on to congratulate Jen and Justin, but if NBC were to gather all six actors in one room, then Courteney Cox better keep a lid on how much fun she had as Jen’s maid of honor.

But Aniston herself was the inspiration for the most tantalizing Friends reunion prospect of all. On The Graham Norton Show she told the Irish host, “At this point, I honestly think we should just wait until we are really much older and have Golden Friends. Then you wouldn’t have the comparison.” If we have to wait a few more decades in order to get all six actors back together for something like that, it will have been worth the wait.Burrows has been directing sitcoms for 40 years, directed 15 episodes of Friends (along with nearly 200 episodes of Will & Grace). Actors from others shows he’s directed, including Cheers, Mike & Molly and The Bob Newhart Show are also expected to appear in the special.

Fans of the uber-popular 1990s sitcom have been lobbying for a reunion for years. The show surged again in popularity last year when it became available to stream on Netflix.

Tagged: Friends, FRIENDS Reunion, James Burrows, NBC, Sitcom

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