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The ‘Friends’ reunion special is happening. And yes, every cast member is on board

The cast of "Friends" — Matthew Perry, clockwise from left, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox  — will participate in a reunion special for HBO Max.
The entire cast of “Friends” — Matthew Perry, clockwise from left, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox — will participate in a reunion special for HBO Max.
(NBC)
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Here’s some news to cheer you up if it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month or even your year.

HBO Max announced on Friday that a “Friends” reunion special is coming to the streaming service when it launches in May. And yes, the entire gang — including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc — will be there (for you).

Aniston, who played Rachel; Cox, who played Monica; Kudrow, who played Phoebe; Perry, who played Chandler; Schwimmer, who played Ross; and LeBlanc, who played Joey, will also executive produce the program, along with director Ben Winston and original “Friends” executive producers Marta Kauffman, David Crane and Kevin Bright.

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“Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together,” Kevin Reilly, chief content officer of HBO Max, said in a statement. “I became aware of ‘Friends’ when it was in the very early stages of development and then had the opportunity to work on the series many years later and have delighted in seeing it catch on with viewers generation after generation. It taps into an era when friends — and audiences — gathered together in real time and we think this reunion special will capture that spirit, uniting original and new fans.”

“Friends” is leaving Netflix, where it enjoyed a resurgence, on New Year’s Day. Fans aren’t ready to see it go.

Dec. 30, 2019

More than 15 years after the long-running show wrapped its 10th and final season, the Central Perk squad will return to the hit NBC sitcom’s original soundstage, Stage 24, for an unscripted conversation in Burbank on the Warner Bros. studio lot. All 236 episodes of the beloved series will also be available on HBO Max, along with the untitled special, at launch.

Since the streaming wars began, “Friends” has proved to be one of TV’s most coveted properties. Netflix paid an estimated $80 million to $100 million to extend its licensing agreement for the show through 2019 before ultimately losing the rights to HBO Max in July.

Now that the ’90s staple has officially disappeared from Netflix, fans can tide themselves over until May by catching reruns on TBS — which will air a “Friends” marathon Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., for the next four weeks.

Among the other content coming to the $14.99/month HBO Max are “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Pretty Little Liars,” upcoming DC Entertainment series, romantic comedies to be produced by Reese Witherspoon, and movies from power producer Greg Berlanti.

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