Celebrity Friends fans react to news of reunion special

Celebrity fans of hit sitcom Friends have taken to Instagram to share their excitement about a reunion special.

The cast of the show announced on Friday they are returning for a special episode of the programme, more than 15 years after the show last aired.

The unscripted special will be on the HBO Max streaming service and will star all of the main characters from the show — including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer.

The news has been shared on the main cast's Instagram accounts, with five of the six sharing a flashback cast photo from a shoot with Mark Seliger taken in 1995 — and celebrity fans were quick to express their delight with the news.

Reese Witherspoon, who starred in several episodes as Rachel's spoilt younger sister, Jill Green, wrote: "WHAT???!!! This is the greatest news ever!"

Queer Eye stars Antoni Porowski and Tan France also revealed themselves to be fans of the show.

Porowski wrote: "NOTHING ELSE MATTERS", with France adding: "NEVER HAS 'I CAN'T EVEN' BEEN MORE RELEVANT."

Actress Sarah Hyland wrote: "EXCUSE ME?!" with multiple emojis, while Mindy Kaling added: "EXPLAIN PLEASE."

Instead of sharing the same promo image as the rest of the cast, LeBlanc, who starred as Joey in the show, shared an old image of M*A*S*H actors, with the caption: "It's happening!"

Aniston wrote on the post: "Oh no... No no no NO LeBlanc! Could that BE more NOT what we said to post???"

Cox said: "Uh no Matt. Wrong reunion," and Kudrow added: "Ha! They Do look like us.."

Perry first teased news of a special on February 5, when he tweeted: "Big news coming..."

Friends, which ran for 10 series and racked up 236 episodes, first aired in 1994.

The comedy, which is set in New York, followed a group of young friends living in Manhattan as they try to navigate life as young adults.

Kevin Reilly, chief content officer of HBO Max, said: "Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together – we are reuniting with David, Jennifer, Courteney, Matt, Lisa and Matthew for an HBO Max special that will be programmed alongside the entire Friends Library.

"I became aware of Friends when it was in the very early stages of development and then had the opportunity to work on the series many years later and have delighted in seeing it catch on with viewers generation after generation.

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"It taps into an era when friends – and audiences – gathered together in real time and we think this reunion special will capture that spirit, uniting original and new fans."

Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry, and Schwimmer will also executive produce the special.