News broke last week that the cast of "Friends" would be reuniting to film a two-hour special on NBC to pay tribute to the hit sitcom's director James Burrows, and fans everywhere went crazy over the thought of the six cast members being together on television again. Just a day after this exciting news was revealed, Matthew Perry announced that he would not be able to participate and crushed everyone's dreams of a true "Friends" reunion, but David Schwimmer has made it very clear that in no way is this special the "Friends" reunion fans have been waiting over a decade for.
"I have no idea what's expected of us-I honestly don't," Schwimmer, 49, told Us Weekly. "I'm flying in that day, so I'm just showing up. From what I've been told from Sean Hayes, we're all going to come up on stage and talk about Jim and give him a hug...I just want to be in the room when he's honored because this man has contributed so, so greatly to our country's enjoyment of television over the last 40, 50 years. It's lovely that there's an event that honors him."
While Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc will all be there, Schwimmer did explain that because of Perry's absence, it's "completely inaccurate" to call the NBC special a reunion.
"I mean, in no way is it a 'Friends' reunion when one member is out of the country," he told People. "But, look, it's a great event. We all love James Burrows and I'm sure Matthew Perry would be there if he could, but he's working in London. Maybe one day there will be [a reunion], but this will not be it....I love that people are that into the show and I would love to see the six of us together and I'm sure one day we will be."
The event is taking place because Burrows recently directed his 1,000th episode of television, as HNGN previously reported. The casts of "Taxi," "Cheers," "Fraiser," "Will & Grace," "The Big Bang Theory" and "Mike & Molly" will also be there as they are all series that Burrows has worked on.
"There's no 'Friends' reunion," Schwimmer once again confirmed to E! News. "It's a tribute to Jimmy Burrows who we love and I'm just thrilled to be a part of it. As many of us that can be there will be there and the casts of so many shows are going to try to be there...This man is an incredible director who helped define situation comedy in this country in the last 40 years so I love him and I'm excited to be there."
"I wish I could say it was going to be a reunion," he added. "[It's a] 5/6 reunion."
The two-hour special event is set to air on Sunday, Feb. 21, on NBC.
