Could they be any more obsessed? Friends featured a who’s who of A-list guest stars during its iconic run, but the show’s celebrity reach did not end there. In the years since it originally aired, stars from every arena have professed their love for the sitcom.
Friends, starring Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani), Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing) and David Schwimmer (Ross Geller), ran for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004. The series won fans over with its relatable story lines, hilarious gags and romantic arcs.
While many viewers tuned in as the show aired on NBC, others discovered it via cable reruns, DVD box sets or streaming platforms. After years of speculation and demand for a reunion, HBO Max announced in February 2020 that the six main cast members would film an unscripted special that would drop in May of that year. However, the coronavirus pandemic delayed the event, and it eventually premiered in May 2021.
Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry and Schwimmer returned to the original soundstage where the show was filmed, Stage 24 of the Warner Bros. Studio. The former costars read lines from old scripts, played a trivia game reminiscent of the one in season 4’s “The One With the Embryos,” reflected on the show’s popularity and enjoyed visits from past guest stars, including Tom Selleck, Maggie Wheeler, James Michael Tyler, Elliott Gould, Christina Pickles and Thomas Lennon.
Several megawatt stars — from David Beckham to Lady Gaga — participated in the reunion too. “It was really thrilling, a little intimidating, and then thrilling because they like Friends so much,” Kudrow told Entertainment Tonight in May 2021.
Although some fans hoped the special was a sign of more to come, the cast made it clear that the reunion was a one-time thing. “This will really make me cry but this will be the last time that we’re ever asked about the show as a group, that we will do this,” Cox explained during the reunion. “We’re not gonna do this again in 15 more years.”
Kudrow also shot down the idea of stepping back into their roles. “That’s all up to [creators] Marta [Kauffman] and David [Crane] and I once heard them say, and I completely agree, that they ended the show very nicely, everyone’s lives are very nice,” she noted. “They would have to unravel all those good things in order for there to be stories. I don’t want anyone’s happy ending unraveled.”
Scroll through the gallery below to see which stars can’t get enough of Friends!