‘Friends’ Co-Creator Encountering “Complicated” Challenges For HBO Max Reunion Special

Published on January 20, 2020.

Friends co-creator, Marta Kauffman, admitted in an interview with Entertainment Tonight at the 2020 Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, that she “really” doesn’t know what’s going on with HBO Max’s Friends reunion project.

“If it happens, we will certainly be involved in it,” she shared. “But I don’t know.”

“It’s complicated. It’s very complicated,” Kauffman continued about the reunion project. “It’s everything. It’s a very complicated thing to do.”

Last November, news spread that the Friends cast, including Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, and the sitcom’s creators, David Crane and Kauffman, were discussing doing a possible reunion project for the streaming service.

Kevin Reilly, Chief Content Officer of HBO Max, talked about the special at the streaming service’s panel at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Wednesday, January 15. “There’s interest all the way around, and yet we can’t seem to quite get that interest aligned to push the button on it,” he addressed. “Today, unfortunately, it’s still a maybe.”

A few Friends guest stars attended the PGA Awards, such as Reese Witherspoon and Brad Pitt. “[It’s] pretty cool,” Kauffman said. “I saw [Pitt] at Netflix a few months ago, but I haven’t gotten a chance to see him tonight.”

Grace and Frankie stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda presented the Friends co-creator with the 2020 Norman Lear Achievement Award at the awards show. Kauffman is also the co-creator and executive producer of Grace and Frankie.

“For them to present this tonight is such an honor,” she told Entertainment Tonight.

“I’m not going to tell you how the stories [on Grace and Frankie] are going to end, and the truth is, they don’t end,” Kauffman continued. “They don’t really end. I mean, this is about the time in your life when things can keep changing, and they do.”