After months of speculation, the entire cast of his TV series Friends finally made an agreement with HBO max for an hour-long, unscripted reunion special.
Reports say that each of the cast members will be paid around $3 to $4 million for the show, which is expected to help launch the upcoming streaming platform HBO Max.
All six stars, namely Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer were initially offered $1 million, which they promptly turned down.
Rumors say that the special will be a “retrospective and interviews” with the cast, and will be hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.
There had been some back-and-forth between the cast’s representatives, Warner Bros TV and HBO Max, but it came to a standstill at the end of 2019.
The disagreement lasted for several weeks, and HBO Max’s Chief Creative Officer Kevin Reilly expressed that there had been struggles to make the reunion happen.
He said in an interview, “there is interest all around, and yet we can’t get the interests all alighted to push the button on it.”
The negotiations resumed soon after the said interview, and the two sides were able to come up with a deal favorable to all parties.
Earlier this week, Matthew Perry posted a suspenseful tweet that drove fans into a frenzy that a special might be happening soon.
The huge payday is not something to be surprised about, as the long-lasting show is one of the most profitable among streaming sites.
HBO Max shelled out $425 million for the rights of this iconic sitcom, and Friends co-creators and executive producers Marta Kauffman and David Crane are expected to be involved the special.
While at Friends 25th anniversary panel at Tribeca TV Festival in September, Kauffman and Crane dismissed rumors about the possible reboot or scripted reunion that would revisit and continue the characters and stories.