The news of the FRIENDS reunion special being greenlit came as music to the ears of fans around the world in February earlier this year. An event that has long been awaited by millions worldwide, the much-awaited reunion special was announced to see the return of the smash hit TV sitcom's main cast - Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer. Initially planned to be "an untitled unscripted special" Friends reunion one-off debuting in May on the streaming service HBO Max, those plans have since taken a backseat in view of the coronavirus pandemic crisis as production is yet to kick off.

As fans continue to wait for a word from the makers in regard to a new date to begin filming the reunion special episode, rumors sprung up stating Friends star Jennifer Aniston's close friend Ellen DeGeneres might have been roped in for hosting duties. As the news began to gain more steam, Aniston's co-star on the show, Lisa Kudrow, who plays the character Phoebe Buffay, debunked the rumor about Degeneres coming on board to host the reunion special and said, "I don’t know. I don’t know that that’s been decided,".

Speaking on Andy Cohen's SiriusXM show about the rumour, Kudrow, however, went on to provide an update on what the cast has been up to lately and stated that all six of them are on a group text chain. Lisa addressed the group chats in detail and said the cast members have been keeping a check on each other, while often discussing the reunion and have been on calls regarding it.

Addressing as to what fans can expect on the Friends reunion special episode, Lisa Kudrow said, "Well, I think we're going to sit around like a really nice restaurant, and have you host and start screaming at each other … No, that's not, I don't know. I can't say." Earlier, Kudrow had joined Aniston on an Actor on Actor segment for Variety where they went on to reveal that the episode will be unscripted and that they will not be reprising their small-screen personas in the reunion.

The last update from the cast members about filming the episode came in August when they said they were waiting for a word on the COVID-19 situation to simmer down so production can kick-off. Aniston told, "Unfortunately it’s very sad that we had to move it again. It was, 'How do we do this with live audiences?' This is not a safe time. Period. That’s the bottom line. It’s not a safe time to do it." She also added at the time saying, "It’s going to be super. I choose to see it as the glass is half-full that it got postponed. Look, we’re not going anywhere. You’re never going to get rid of Friends, sorry. You’re stuck with us for life guys."