Marta Kauffman, co-creator of Friends, has scotched renewed hopes of a reunion movie.
It has recently been announced that five of the show’s main cast members are to appear on TV together for the first time in over a decade. Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer are all expected to be present at NBC’s tribute to sitcom director James Burrows on February 21.
The sixth main cast member, Matthew Perry, will definitely not be present because he is in London rehearsing for his play The End Of Longing. He is expected to pre-record a video message for the Burrows tribute.
Predictably given Friends‘ continuing popularity, news of the tribute gathering sparked rumours of a possible full-scale reunion. However, Kauffman has once again dismissed the idea as impossible.
“There will never be a Friends reunion movie,” she told E! News, echoing comments made in 2015 when she explained: “Friends was about that time in your life when your friends are your family and once you have a family, there’s no need anymore.”
GettyJames Burrows directed 15 episodes of Friends as well as working on Will And Grace, Mike Dnd Molly, Frasier, and Cheers, which he co-created. Cast members from all of the shows are expected to appear on the tribute next month.
Following Matthew Perry’s announcement that he would not be appearing at the tribute to Burrows, David Schwimmer confirmed that fans should not expect too much when the five other main cast members reconvene, saying: “It won’t be a reunion, but it’ll be fun.”