Truthfully, the Friends reunion special that has been hanging around like a threat for the better part of a year is not something I spend a lot of time pondering. Friends is fine, but for me, it is not a lifestyle—but it is for an awful lot of people, all of whom I hope are happy with this pithy little teaser and the utterly confounding list of guest stars, which includes, yes, Malala.
According to Variety, the Friends reunion special will air on HBO Max on May 27, but there’s little to no information about what that special will entail. Instead, we have about 30 seconds of nothing and a list of guest stars that I will be puzzling over for some time.
There are no tea leaves to read here, because all I see are six friends walking around a studio lot in the dark, as if they are leading the viewer to their deaths or, more likely, to a soundstage that is designed to look like Central Perk or the very nice and spacious apartment that Monica and Rachel shared. I don’t know what they will do once they are on that soundstage, but I do know who will be there.- David Beckham (fine)
- Justin Bieber (maybe he likes the show)
- BTS (That’s nice!)
- James Corden (No)
- Cindy Crawford (I see this for her)
- Cara Delevingne (I don’t see this for her, but no one asked me)
- Lady Gaga (LOL)
- Elliott Gould (Monica and Ross’s papa)
- Kit Harington (JON SNOW)
- Larry Hankin (This man played “Mr. Heckles” on the show, so yes.)
- Mindy Kaling (Not surprised)
- Thomas Lennon (Joey’s “hand twin” Randall)
- Christina Pickles (Monica and Ross’s mama)
- Tom Selleck (Monica’s hot mustache boyfriend)
- James Michael Tyler (it’s Gunther, bitch!)
- Maggie Wheeler (it’s Janice, bitch!)
- Reese Witherspoon (it’s Rachel’s sister in a few episodes, bitch!)
- Malala Yousafzai (Huh?)
There is little information as to why these people are going to be on the reunion, but hopefully, my small annotations help. Malala, activist, and possible Friends superfan? Sure. This news makes a little more sense now that I fully understand that what we’re dealing with is a reunion and not a reboot. It was difficult to wrap my head around the idea of Malala the actor, or, somehow worse, Malala guest-starring as herself on a very special episode wherein she teaches Joey about the Taliban. Thankfully, that won’t be happening, but the trouble is, we don’t know what will.