Jennifer Aniston Compares Returning To The ‘Friends’ Set To A ‘Sucker Punch in the Heart’ — She Says ‘Time Stopped’

Jun 01, 2021

Fans of the hit American sitcom "Friends" had something to be excited about again after the show's departure over 17 years ago in 2004. On May 27, HBO Max premiered "Friends: The Reunion: The One Where They Get Back Together," an unscripted special that saw the main cast reunite on set to reminisce about the show together, test their knowledge of the show with a trivia game, sit down in an interview with James Corden and re-read their lines more than a decade after the show's finale.

As one of the most popular television shows of all time, "Friends" won countless awards, accolades and fans over the show's 10-year run from 1994 to 2004. On paper, the show might seem rather ordinary. As its name suggests, the show revolved around a group of six friends — Rachel Green (Jennifer Anniston), Monica Geller (Courtney Cox), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) and Ross Geller (David Schimmer) — as they live life as young adults in New York City. The show followed the ensemble cast as they dated each other, moved in together and furthered their careers in Manhattan.

Given the show's incredible success and long-lasting legacy, the reunion, which was originally set to air in 2020, came as a pleasant surprise for fans of the show. After all, this was the first time most "Friends" fanatics were able to see this group of six together in more than a decade.

Shortly after the reunion episode on Thursday, May 27, Jennifer Aniston spoke on SiriusXM's "Gayle King in the House" to talk more in-depth about how it made her feel. Read on to learn more about how Aniston said the reunion was a "sucker punch in the heart" for her.

Not only is "Friends" the highest-rated television show of all time, but it also aired one of the most-watched television episodes in history: the series finale, which attracted 52.5 million viewers. To say the least, that means that the NBC show has its fair share of fans. And at the end of May, those fans were pleased with a reunion special.

The May 27 reunion special featured all six cast members for the first time in years. They revisited a recreated "Friends" set on Stage 24 at Warner Bros. Studios, including Monica and Rachel's apartment, the Central Perk cafe and Joey and Chandler's pad.

"I was flooded with 10 years of irreplaceable memories," a 56-year-old Cox told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview ahead of the show's premiere.

HBO Max released an official trailer of the reunion special on Wednesday, which showed never-before-seen moments from Thursday's premiere. Viewers saw the cast participate in a trivia game (harkening back to an episode from season 4), reunited in front of the fountain featured in the show's opening credits, and opening up to interviewer James Corden.

The show also included a number of celebrity superfans and special guests, from musical acts like BTS and Justin Bieber to actors like Kit Harington and Mindy Kaling.

"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," Kevin Reilly, HBO Max's chief content officer, announced in a statement.

Not long after the reunion episode, Jennifer Aniston opened up about how heart-wrenching it was to be back together on SiriusXM's "Gayle King in the House." Aniston described the feeling of coming back to the same set she had filmed on after 17 years as jarring. She said:

"It was a sucker punch in the heart in a way. It was for all of us, I think. Even Courteney [Cox] we got tears out of."

Almost all of the previous cast members underestimated the emotions that would come flooding back after seeing the studio involved in making the series that aired from 1994 to 2004; the group was instantly overwhelmed with emotion and memories. 

Aniston commented on this as she said:

"We romanticized it, but you also have to remember we haven't been there [since the series finale]. And that time was a very specific time, when we were saying goodbye to something that we didn't want to, we cared deeply about, but we knew it was the time to say goodbye. Our lives were ahead of us. We had our future ahead of us."

The 52-year-old actress added:

"It almost felt like time had stopped and we time traveled. And there's good in that, and then there's heartbreak in that."

Aniston played the character of Rachel Green for ten years on the sitcom, and it's to no surprise that many people still love the show even a decade after its end. She said:

"It's really hard to put that into a sentence, except it filled my heart. The amount of love that people have for these six characters is something that you can't really explain the meaning of it. Being reminded of the amount of happiness this show brought to people, that's a special thing to be a part of."

What do you think about Aniston opening up after the reunion? Did you watch the reunion on Thursday? Let us know your thoughts, and be sure to pass this on to other "Friends" fans you know!