FRIENDS: The Reunion – Why Paul Rudd Didn’t Appear?

After the FRIENDS: The Reunion special was released, many fans wondered why Paul Rudd was not included in the show, and here is the answer.

After a lifetime of wait, we finally got to see the special FRIENDS: The Reunion episode on May 27 on HBO Max. It was really emotional watching the old folk who made our lives memorable get together on screen for one last time. Undoubtedly, FRIENDS is one of the most successful shows of all time with a fanbase so huge that it can rival those of the MCU and the DCEU. FRIENDS continues to attract more young viewers even though the show ended 17 years ago.

The 45 minutes long unscripted special brought the buddies back together again and they went on a nostalgic trip to explore the replicas of the sets that were created of the key places where the friends hanged out at. The reunion special bought back the original six-member cast of Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, and Courtney Cox, however, there was a question that everyone was left with to wonder, “Why wasn’t Paul Rudd invited to join the FRIENDS: The Reunion special episode.” Ben Winston, the director of the reunion special episode came forward with an answer to this question, and here’s what it was.

The Reason For Paul Rudd’s absence

Paul Rudd, who played the role of Mike Hannigan, made his debut in FRIENDS during the ninth season of the show. although introduced as a mere character, Paul’s role became quite significant when he married Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow). Ben Winston was recently in an interview with The Wrap where he explained that they couldn’t bring everybody back since the special since the episode was only 45 minutes long, on top of that, the restrictions due to the ongoing pandemic also became a great hindrance in making that possible.

“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, hundreds of amazing people were in Friends over the years. Sadly, we couldn’t get everybody in. You know, we did invite some people who weren’t able to make it. 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,” he stated.

Paul Rudd has repeatedly expressed an amazing experience for him to star in FRIENDS and what the show meant to him.

He has always felt that being a part of something that special and getting so much love from the fans was even more special than portraying his character. “In something like Friends, the show was about them, but it’s an interesting thing to be a part of. I was only in it for just a blip. I felt, ‘I’m like a prop on this show. It’s not about Mike Hannigan.’ But there’s a very interesting feeling to be a part of something that has that kind of profound impact on pop culture.” Paul said during an interview with Variety.

It would have definitely been awesome if all the characters from the legendary show could return in the reunion special even if it meant prolonging the episode, but let’s not get greedy because having some closure was definitely better than having none.

What do you think Paul Rudd should have been the part of the reunion episode? Tell us your answers in the comments section below.

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