The Friends reunion won a lot of praise this week, but fans were disappointed to see some stars missing from the one-off special.
While the reunion focused on the show’s main cast Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Mathew Perry – it also featured a number of guest star cameos.
But sadly, Paul Rudd and Cole Sprouse didn’t make an appearance.
Paul played Phoebe’s husband Mike in the hit series, and Cole portrayed Ross’ son Ben.
Ben Winston, who directed the reunion special, has since revealed why they weren’t included.
Speaking to TheWrap, he said: “Well, we couldn’t have everybody on, because it’s only an hour and 45 minutes. And you’ve got to pay attention—the main nub of the show has got to be about the six cast members.”
“So you can’t have too many cameos because of course, there were hundreds of amazing people who were in Friends over the years. Sadly, we couldn’t get everybody in.”
The producer also admitted the ongoing pandemic made it difficult for people to travel.
“You know, we did invite some people who weren’t able to make it,” he explained.
“It’s a complicated time to be making television now because, you know, some people couldn’t fly internationally, some people were on other TV or film shoots, some people are in bubbles on stuff.”
“I think during a pandemic, it’s really hard to get everybody where you want to be. And the other thing, of course, is we have no flexibility.”
“It was one night that those six [main cast members] were available. The timing of it was incredibly difficult. So, you know, if you weren’t available on the seventh of April at 8 p.m., then, sadly, they weren’t able to be part of it.”
Paul and Cole’s absence does make sense, as Paul has been working on his next Ant-Man movie overseas, and Cole has been filming new episodes of Riverdale in Vancouver.
On the latest episode of the Gosscast, Alexandra Ryan and Kendra Becker talk the return of Love Island, Real Housewives, and the final season of KUWTK.
The girls also talk through some of the biggest stories of the week – including 2fm’s new breakfast show, the chaos of Eurovision, and Maura Higgins’ rumoured new love interest…
If you’re looking for the audio-only version of our chat, you can listen to the Gosscast on Spotify and iTunes too
