'Friends' stars record secret 90-minute special episode after reunion gets pushed

After the reunion of classic nineties sitcom Friends was deferred indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many fans were left disappointed, but the cast of the show still has a little surprise in store for them.

According to a report by The Sun, the star cast of the show, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, have secretly recorded a 90-minute special online.

The report detailed how the Courteney, who plays Monica Gellar on the show, filmed a ‘mock rehearsal’ along with director Ben Winston, over the live video- conferencing application Zoom. It was revealed further that the special episode will be released prior to airing of the reunion that has now been stalled.

An insider from the show told the publication: “As soon as filming was cancelled, everyone started panicking as it took so long to get their schedules to align, there was a deep fear it may take a year or even longer to get them all back together again.”

“Courtney immediately set up a Zoom meeting for them and they all logged on to discuss ideas - brain-storming and bringing in the producers for a session which they called a mock rehearsal and chatted for almost two hours,” the insider added.

“They’ve been having daily meetings and Jen [Aniston] - who has the busiest schedule of the six - has assured them she’ll do whatever she can to ensure they don’t have to wait months to get the reunion filmed.”

“Their Zoom sessions have been brilliant fun, and there’s some hilarious material on there which they hope can be aired as either a series of teasers, or even a stand-alone special,” the source concluded.

The new release date for the reunion, which is to be aired on HBO Max, has yet to be announced.