Friends reunion: David Schwimmer teases surprise element

Despite the pandemic, fans can still expect a "Friends" reunion. Photo / Getty Images

David Schwimmer has teased a surprise element to the "Friends" reunion.

The 54-year-old actor revealed he will be reuniting with his former co-stars - Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry and Matt Le Blanc - for the HBO Max special in Los Angeles this month and hinted that they are working on something exciting for fans.

Speaking to chat show host Graham Norton, David 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 in character as Ross Geller or appear as himself 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." Adding jokingly, "I should have [studied] 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!"

Meanwhile, Aniston previously insisted the reunion special will be "even more exciting", after it was delayed last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Aniston admitted that while she feels a "glass half full" about filming being pushed back because of the ongoing threat of the deadly virus, having more time to work on the show would enable it to be "more fun".

Speaking to Deadline, she said: "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."

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She added: "It's going to be super. You know what? This has also given us more time to make it even more exciting and more fun than it would have been. So 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."