The reunion’s director explains why major guest stars like as Paul Rudd, who portrayed Phoebe’s husband, Mike Hannigan, and Cole Sprouse, who played Ross’ son, Ben, were absent. After years of waiting, the Central Perk gang reunion was reborn for the HBO Max project. The show, which lasted nearly two hours, featured a number of celebrities, including Tom Selleck and Reese Witherspoon.
It’s been 17 years since the hit sitcom ended in 2004, and the Friends reunion is only the second time all six stars have been in the same room in that time. Despite this, the show remains popular due to reruns on television and availability on streaming services. Friends has impressively increased its reach with newer people discovering it since it has remained at the forefront of pop cultural discussion, aside from its ongoing popularity among its legion of original followers.
Paul Rudd & Cole Sprouse
Given this, there was a lot of interest for the Friends reunion, Friends: The One Where They Got Back Together, to be released. The project wasn’t exactly a revival because it was unscripted and the actors didn’t reprise their roles; instead, they reminisced about their time on the programme as a host of special guests appeared.
The cast includes actors who appeared in the show’s initial run as well as super fans, though there were some noticeable exclusions, such as Rudd and Sprouse. While the couple did not appear, director Ben Winston said to The Wrap that the coronavirus made it tough to book guest performers.
Winston’s response has a few levels, and while he didn’t specifically mention Rudd and Sprouse, it’s safe to infer they were among the celebrities who were invited but couldn’t go. For what it’s worth, Rudd might be practising for his role as Evangeline Lily in Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. In July, filming for the third film will begin in London. Meanwhile, Sprouse portrays Jughead on The CW’s Riverdale, and while there are no new episodes every week, it’s likely that he’s busy with other aspects of the programme.
Winston’s response
The most interesting part of Winston’s response, though, was that they had to be careful not to overshadow the core performers with so many extras. The Friends reunion drew a total of 18 visitors, which was three times the number of key actors.
While several of them starred in the sitcom, others who were not personally involved in the show made cameo appearances. Given their personal connection with Friends, there’s a case to be made that actors like Rudd and Sprouse should have been chosen.
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