Fancy bumping into you again, old F.R.I.E.N.D
Stars ‘reunited’ with their characters after 20 years
YOU could be forgiven for doing a double-take when looking at these pictures.
But they really are the cast of Friends appearing to reunite with their younger selves.
The portraits are the work of Dutch artist Ard Gelinck, who has photoshopped present-day pictures of the famous US sitcom stars so they seem to pose next to images from their time in the cult show.
The pictures follow last month’s announcement that the cast of Friends are reuniting to shoot a new episode 16 years after the series ended.
The iconic show, which ran from 1994 to 2004, told the stories of six twenty to thirty-something-year-old friends living in Manhattan, New York.
The snaps feature Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachel Green, Courteney Cox (Monica Geller) and Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay). Also featured are Matthew Perry, who was Chandler Bing, David Schwimmer, (Ross Geller) and Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani).
Although the last episode of Friends was screened in 2004, the programme’s popularity has endured with the help of streaming services. Last year Netflix revealed that Friends was the most streamed TV series on the platform. Details about what fans can expect in the reunion are unclear, but it is thought to be a special unscripted episode. The stars simultaneously shared a flashback cast photo on social media in February on announcing the eagerly-awaited reunion.
The new episode will help launch HBO Max – the WarnerMedia streaming service – which will be the new digital home of Friends.
Briton Ben Winston, who has worked on James Corden’s US chat show, is directing the special. Kevin Reilly, of HBO Max, said of the comedy classic: ‘It taps into an era when friends – and audiences – gathered together in real time and we think this reunion special will capture that spirit, uniting original and new fans.’
‘Revival will unite new and old fans’