Friends reunion: Set decorator hints the filming has started with snap of iconic fountain set

Friends’ original set decorator has hinted that the hotly-anticipated and much-delayed reunion show has started filming.

Greg Grande – who was responsible for dressing the likes of Central Perk and the New York apartments in the iconic US sitcom – shared a snap of the recreated iconic fountain set to Instagram on Friday.

In the image, the yellow couch can be seen by the fountain, however some extra chairs and a coffee table have been added as if to accommodate a sit-down chat.

The reunion is not set to be a scripted continuation of the sitcom, but a conversation with the six lead cast members – David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt Le Blanc and Jennifer Aniston.

Greg did not add a caption to his image, however the snap showed six cups around the informal set-up and the coffee table resembled the one used during past Central Perk scenes.

Striped cushions and blue blankets were also visible on the mustard couch as well as fans and lights around the area.

Several people wearing face-masks could also be seen walking around in the background of the snap, further suggesting that filming was underway.

Last Friday, sources told Deadline that HBO Max’s unscripted special will start taping in Los Angeles within the next seven days.    

Although HBO Max declined to comment, it has already been confirmed that the reunion will be filmed at the original soundstage – Stage 24 – situated on the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank, California. 

The Friends fountain, despite many assuming it would be in New York where the show is set, is located on Warner Bros ranch and fans can see it during studio tours.

And during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show last week, David hinted that there may be a brief moment of the stars reviving their beloved sitcom characters.

The New York-based actor, who played Ross Geller in the comedy, said: ‘I’m going to LA to shoot the Friends Reunion. I will get to see everyone for the first time in years.’

Asked if he will be Ross or David in the reunion, he said: ‘I’ll be David. Nothing is scripted and we are not in character. We are all ourselves, although there is one section of it that I don’t want to give away, but we all read something.’

He then jokingly added: ‘I should have genned up on old episodes, but I just haven’t been able to bring myself to catch up on the 236 shows. I guess I need to watch a lot over the next five days!’

The latest snap also comes after Greg posted a picture of the resurrected set of Monica Geller’s home to Instagram last month, suggesting at least some of the show would happen there.

He captioned the snap: ‘Sssh! Somethings happening, deja vu… coming alive once again! ❤️ #friends #monicasapt #friendsreunion’ [sic]

While Greg was responsible for the knickknacks in Monica’s home, the set was designed by John Shaffner and Joe Stewart – who were also responsible for painting the walls purple.

The reunion is not set to be a scripted continuation of the sitcom, but a sit-down chat with the six lead cast members who will be interviewed about the comedy that propelled them to stardom in 1994 and lasted for 10 years.

Friends’ final episode aired in the spring of 2004, and saw Monica and husband Chandler Bing pack up the famously purple loft and move out to the suburbs with their newborn twins.

When the show wrapped, the set was taken down. It had lived on Stage 24 at the Warner Bros lot in Hollywood for a decade, but was taken over in 2005 when spin-off series Joey was filmed there.

Joey saw Matt Le Blanc’s character Joey Tribbiani move to LA to continue his acting career. Stage 24 was re-dressed with a new set – that of Joey’s sister Gina Tribbiani’s Los Angeles house.

Joey lasted only two seasons before it was cancelled due to lackluster ratings, with fans uninterested in a show that only focused on one of the six friends.

Central Perk’s set is still in tact at Warner Bros, and is part of the studio tour.

The real coffee house soundstage – not a replica – can be visited when the tour is open to the public [currently shut amid the pandemic].

In 2019, Greg reflected on the details of Monica’s apartment in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. 

‘I felt like Monica’s apartment was pretty iconic. Monica’s was definitely the standout,’ he said. ‘[The Warner Bros] prop house had some exceptional old pieces of furniture that had been around forever and ever and ever that were kind of tucked away and hidden in the basement and the third floor. Pieces that no one really would ever have used unless you reinvented them.’

Greg explained in the interview that some of the items – including the French circus poster hanging behind Monica’s television – were last-minute additions that he didn’t think twice about. 

‘It’s funny that the way it happened was so natural and kind of not thought-out too much and now it’s an iconic poster.

‘It is really crazy and it’s awesome to think that I put such a fingerprint on that show — and it’s really sad that I can’t get any piece of the action! Somebody owes me, for God’s sakes! It’s funny because I did pitch them a whole furniture line after the show but they didn’t want it.’

Greg appeared in the finale of Friends as one of the removal men, wheeling Chandler’s dog statue out of the apartment.

‘That rings true, that I’m moving the last piece of furniture out of the apartment. I got a little sentimental,’ he said.

David Schwimmer was the last cast member to update fans on the progression of the reunion show.

David – who played Ross Geller – said in early March that he will join his former co-stars to tape the reunion ‘in a little over a month’ during a chat on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live. 

‘Have you guys shot anywhere?’ Cohen asked of HBO Max reunion.

‘Actually, in a little over a month I’m heading out to LA,’ the actor responded. ‘So, finally, I mean, we figured out a way to film it safely and there’s going to be a portion of it that we filmed outside because of, you know, for safety protocols.’

Andy then inquired about rumors that the event was going to be hosted by Ellen DeGeneres – who was embroiled in a toxic workplace scandal in 2020 regarding the set of her eponymous talk show.

Ellen starred in her own sitcom – Ellen – around the same time as Friends, and often made references to the fact they both had coffee house settings. 

‘Is Ellen hosting that?’ Cohen asked, to which Schwimmer replied with a quick ‘no’.

‘She’s not?’ Andy said, pushing the star to give more details. ‘Do you know, can you say who is?’

‘You know what, I don’t know if I can actually,’ the star said. ‘Yeah. Should’ve found that out. Um, all right. It’s not Ellen, it’s not Billy Crystal. I could tell you who it’s not.’ 

Deflecting, David asked: ‘Andy is it you?’ ‘Oh my God. I wish it was,’ the broadcaster responded.

The special event has been in the works since February 2020 with a film date of March 2020.

Originally, the reunion was supposed to debut in May 2020 as part of HBO Max’s launch but when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, causing chaos in the film and TV industry, production plans were scuppered.

HBO Max announced in April of last year that the show would not be filmed in time to debut at the streaming service’s launch and the sit-down was pushed back to August 2020.

As the pandemic raged, that date was also abandoned. Matthew Perry tweeted in November that the taping was officially rescheduled for March but even that date was delayed according to the latest from Schwimmer.

‘Friends reunion being rescheduled for the beginning of March. Looks like we have a busy year coming up. And that’s the way I like it,’ Perry wrote at the time.

Fans have oftentimes called for there to be a scripted reunion in which the cast return as their characters for a one-off special. Yet the prospect of this appears to have been nixed by the series’ creators.

Sitcoms such as Will & Grace and Roseanne [later becoming The Connors] were revived in recent years to much fanfare, and Frasier is the latest said to be going through a reboot.

Yet Friends seems destined to be left as it was, in 2004, with only reruns keeping the fans satiated.