‘Friends’ Again! Reunion Special With Jen, Courteney & Others To Launch On HBO Max
A Friends reunion special may be available sooner than later.
Warner Bros. is finalizing a deal to bring the cast of the renowned show together for an hour-long special that may potentially launch the HBO Max streaming service, where all ten seasons will be available, the Wall Street Journal reported.
According to the site, each of the six "Friends" cast members Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer are discussing the terms of agreement and may potentially receive between $2.25 million and $2.5 million.
Deadline.com, however, learned the stars will be paid in the $3 million-$4 million range. A total of about $20 million will reportedly be spent on the actors’ appearances in the special.
Although it appears the long-awaited special is drawing near, representatives from Warner Bros Television denied the deal, while WarnerMedia has not yet responded to inquiries.
Back in November, RadarOnline.com previously reported talks were underway with HBO Max. At the time, Deadline cautioned: “a deal is far from done and agreements with cast and creatives still need to be hammered out.”
When speaking to Ellen Degeneres the month before, Aniston, 50, clarified there would not be a reboot of the show. “We would love for there to be something, but we don’t know what that something is. So, we’re just trying. We’re working on something.”
Despite occasional outings between the cast members, however, there was one major obstacle that may have thrown a wrench in the special.
As RadarOnline.com exclusively reported, Aniston and the show’s creator, Marta Kauffmann, were feuding for years after the cast was not paid for their during the show’s popularity.
In 2002, the stars negotiated their contracts collectively, agreeing to $1 million per episode for the ninth and tenth seasons, and threatened to leave the show if their demands weren’t met. After Kauffmann, 63, suggested their requests were “ridiculous,” her feud with Aniston began.
“It’s the elephant in the room that won’t go away until they’ve mended fences,” a source told RadarOnline.com exclusively.
“Jen’s known to carry a grudge against Marta for not supporting the cast’s profit percentage, which made them all extremely rich,” the insider confessed.
“Courteney is playing peacemaker and suggesting they get together over dinner to work this out because if they don’t, having Jen and Marta in the same room together will be all awkwardness and no fun.”
Now, with Friends reportedly finalizing agreements, Aniston and Kauffmann might have let bygones be bygones.