The sitcom “Friends” was an icon of its generation and when the show’s run ended at its 10th season in 2004, many couldn’t help but feel a wistful nostalgia for the decade of laughs that they won’t be getting anymore each week.
But now, it looks like the entire cast of Friends is finalizing agreements to appear in a reunion special that could earn them between $2.25 million to $2.5 million.
According to WSJ, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, “were originally offered $1 million, which they turned down.”
The one-time reunion show will reportedly only last an hour and will feature “a retrospective and interviews with the cast” and likely hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.
An HBO representative said that the $3 million-$4 million claims of the stars’ earnings are speculation and are not confirmed.”
HBO Max’s Chief Creative Officer Kevin Reilly spoke about the struggles of making the reunion happen last month at the Television Critics Association.
“There is interest all around, and yet we can’t get the interests all alighted to push the button on it,” Reilly said.
But it’s not surprising the cast will be earning so much considering the show is one of the most profitable in streaming sites.
In the final two seasons of the show, the actors were making $1 million each. WarnerMedia bought the rights for the show for $425 million (85 million a year for 5 years).
The reunion show will mark the first time the cast will appear together on-screen in the last 16 years although they have been reconnecting in real life.
Matthew Perry became the last member of the cast to make an Instagram account and was immediately welcomed by Lisa and Jennifer.
When Lisa announced that Matthew had finally joined, Jennifer joked: “Yay Matty! Could you TAKE any longer?” and added a shocked emoji and a heart. Courteney Cox simply commented “Yes Matty!!!” with a heart emoji.
Matthew soon gained over a million followers including most of the cast; David hasn’t followed anyone on social media.
Replaced!