Friends – Picture: Warner Brothers
The day has finally come, again. Friends has its official removal date listed on Netflix in the United States and is scheduled to have every season removed from Netflix on January 1st, 2020. Here’s a recap of all the drama surrounding Friends tenure on Netflix and where it’s heading next.
As you may have heard, the highly publicized departure of Friends has been long announced. The United States Netflix will see every season of Friends removed on the first day of 2020 in preparation for its
We’ve known Friends was going to be leaving Netflix for quite some time. The first news came at the end of 2018 when the series showed up to be removed from January 1st, 2019. It was eventually renewed for a reported $80 billion for the year.
The news of Friends leaving in 2020 came in July 2019 with Netflix’s US account acknoledging the removal by Tweeting:
The One Where We Have To Say Goodbye. We’re sorry to see Friends go to Warner’s streaming service at the beginning of 2020 (in The US). Thanks for the memories, gang.
Now, as of December 2nd 2019 the series has an availability notice showing that Friends is going to be removed from Netflix on January 1st, 2020.
Removal date showing on Friends as of December 2nd, 2019
It’s worth noting only Netflix in the US is scheduled to see Friends removed at present. Netflix in Canada and the UK have reiterated that they’re keeping Friends for the time being.
Of course, Friends is now scheduled to debut on the HBO Max service scheduled to release in May 2020.
It’s not the only Warner Brothers title scheduled to leave Netflix. The West Wing is the next big title leaving in favor of HBO Max. That’s likely leaving by the end of 2020. We’re expecting other smaller titles in 2020 to leave as will shows from The CW over the next few years.
Could Netflix get another short extension? After all, it’s not now scheduled to be on a streaming service until at least May 2020 when HBO Max is scheduled to launch.
Netflix has plenty of other sitcoms available still and we’ve picked some top alternatives on Netflix to Friends here. Netflix recently got the global rights to Seinfeld starting 2021 and rights to Community are currently up for grabs too.
