Friends reunion hits HBO Max May 27 with BTS, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga – CNET [CNET]

HBO Max will start streaming a long-anticipated Friends reunion special starting May 27, bringing the sitcom’s original cast together to reflect on the ’90s hit (rather than reviving the characters’ storylines). 

The Friends reunion special was originally planned as one of the service’s marquee exclusives on day one, when AT&T‘s WarnerMedia first launched it. But HBO Max’s original productions, like those of every streaming service, got disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The blanket shutdown of Hollywood productions in March 2020 meant the special wasn’t filmed in time for Max’s rollout on May 27, 2020. Now, it will premiere exactly one year later than planned. 

The special will feature the main cast — Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer — and reunites them on the show’s original soundstage, Stage 24, on the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank, California. It will include a parade of guests, including (deep breath) David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, James Corden, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Lady Gaga, Elliott Gould, Kit Harington, Larry Hankin, Mindy Kaling, Thomas Lennon, Christina Pickles, Tom Selleck, James Michael Tyler, Maggie Wheeler, Reese Witherspoon and Malala Yousafzai.

HBO Max launched as another splashy new service in the so-called streaming wars, a year-and-a-half period when media and technology giants rolled out their own, big-budget takes on streaming TV to take on the likes of Netflix. Just like Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus and NBCUniversal’s Peacock, HBO Max hopes its particular mix of shows, movies and originals will hook viewers on its vision for TV’s future. But these corporate rivalries also affect how many services you must use, and pay for, to watch your favorite shows and movies online.