Friends: The Reunion director explains why Paul Rudd and Cole Sprouse weren’t included

The Friends reunion special has come and gone; how are we all feeling, Friends fans? The unscripted show was certainly highly anticipated after being announced back in 2019, and though perhaps it didn’t turn out to be everything people were expecting, it did deliver some great moments. For starters, it was just amazing seeing the six main cast members back together again, including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Matthew Perry.

We also got some surprising reveals during Friends: The Reunion, such as the fact that Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer had romantic feelings for each other during filming! Apparently, they never got serious, but the relationship we saw between Ross and Rachel on-screen had bits of truth to it! There was also a super fun trivia game between the cast members during the special, and we saw hilarious bloopers.

One of the complaints viewers have had, however, is that there were too many unnecessary cameos from celebrities who were never involved in Friends. And on top of that, some favorite Friends alums were not in attendance, including the likes of Paul Rudd and Cole Sprouse. Fans have been particularly mad about their absence, and now the director of the special is weighing in.

According to The Wrap, Friends: The Reunion director Ben Winston spoke to the publication and explained why Rudd and Sprouse, along with other Friends fan-favorites, weren’t there. He said:

"“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, there were hundreds of amazing people who were in ‘Friends’ over the years. Sadly, we couldn’t get everybody in.”"

Of course, we weren’t expecting every single Friends guest star to attend the reunion special, but people were really gutted to miss out on some Paul Rudd. Though we’ve speculated why he did not come, the truth is that there probably just wasn’t enough room. And that’s sad!

If you haven’t checked out Friends: The Reunion just yet, you can stream it right now on HBO Max. And if you’re outside of the United States, check out how to watch it internationally here.