'Friends: The Reunion' director explains why Paul Rudd & Cole Sprouse were excluded

Friends: The Reunion included several interesting cameos from celebrities—David Beckham, Lady Gaga and Kit Harington, for example—but viewers were more interested in the absence of Paul Rudd and Cole Sprouse, considering they actually had meaningful roles in the original show.

Rudd played Mike Hannigan, Phoebe's love interest and eventual husband, across 17 episodes from 2002 to the 2004 series finale. Sprouse played Ben Geller, Ross's son with his first wife.

"Well, we couldn't have everybody on, because it's only an hour and 45 minutes," Friends: The Reunion director Ben Winston told TheWrap. "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."

Friends was the who's who of cameos, to be fair. The HBO Max reunion special was able to fit Reese Witherspoon, who had a two-episode arc as Rachel's spoiled sister Jill in Season 6. Tom Selleck, who portrayed Monica's older love interest Richard primarily in Season 2.