Will 'Friends' reunion finally be filmed? David Schwimmer quashes rumors of Ellen DeGeneres hosting special show
There's finally some confirmation surrounding the filming of the highly anticipated 'FRIENDS' reunion, according to original cast member David Schwimmer. The actor, who played Ross Geller on the very popular sitcom, has also quashed all rumors of comedian Ellen DeGeneres hosting the event.
Schwimmer confirmed the news in a conversation with Andy Cohen on Sirius XM's Andy Cohen Live, revealing that he will be reuniting with the rest of the former main cast "in a little over a month". The 52-year-old Cohen brought up the question "Have you guys shot anywhere?" And to that, the 54-year-old Schwimmer revealed, "Actually, in a little over a month I’m heading out to LA."
This comes almost a year after the original shoot date had passed, with production stalled due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. "So, finally, I mean, we figured out a way to film it safely and there's going to be a portion of it that we filmed outside because of, you know, for safety protocols," he added.
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Soon Cohen asked the actor if rumors surrounding DeGeneres hosting the reunion special were true: "Is Ellen hosting that?" the Bravo star asked Schwimmer, to which he replied, keeping it short and crisp, at just a "no". DeGeneres was canceled in 2020 after several former staff members from her talk show, 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' came forward to claim she facilitated a "toxic work culture".
When Cohen confirmed the news with Schwimmer, he also asked "Do you know, can you say who is?" Schwimmer very honestly admitted "You know what, I don't know if I can actually. Yeah. Should've found that out. Um, all right. It’s not Ellen, it's not Billy Crystal. I could tell you who it's not." When Schwimmer asked, "Andy is it you?" the 'Watch What Happens Live' star answered: "Oh my God. I wish it was."
Confirmed for production in February of 2020, the 'FRIENDS' reunion special was scheduled to begin filming in March. The program was going to be released by HBO as part of their streaming portal, HBO Max's launch.
The plans were however doomed due to the pandemic, and in April, the network disclosed that the reunion's filming scheduled had been postponed with an air date set in August 2020. These plans were also botched as the cast refused to film without the original set from Stage 24, in the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank, California.
In November, Matthew Perry, who played the sarcasm whiz Chandler Bing on the show, tweeted an update revealing the crew was looking at March 2021 for production. "Friends reunion being rescheduled for the beginning of March. Looks like we have a busy year coming up. And that's the way I like it," he wrote.
The rest of the main cast along with Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc are also returning for the highly demanded 'FRIENDS' reboot. This comes 16 long years after the show wrapped with its series finale in 2004, having run for 10 seasons from September 22, 1994, following six friends navigating life in New York.
Friends reunion being rescheduled for the beginning of March. Looks like we have a busy year coming up. And that's the way I like it!
— matthew perry (@MatthewPerry) November 12, 2020
In January, Kudrow had also revealed that she had already filmed some scenes for the reunion. "There are different facets to it, and we already shot packages of things. I pre-shot something already so we're definitely doing it because I already shot a little something," she shared on Rob Lowe's podcast 'Literally! With Rob Lowe'.