What you need to know

  • Friends will be pulled from Netflix in 2020.
  • The show will be available on a new service called HBO Max.
  • HBO Max is set to launch in the spring of 2020.

First The Office, now Friends.

WarnerMedia on Tuesday announced the beloved sitcom will be pulled from Netflix and put on HBO Max, a new streaming service launching next year.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO Max is set to debut with 10,000 hours of premium content, including shows from The CW.

"HBO Max will bring together the diverse riches of WarnerMedia to create programming and user experiences not seen before in a streaming platform," said Robert Greenblatt, chairman, WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-To-Consumer. "HBO's world-class programming leads the way, the quality of which will be the guiding principle for our new array of Max Originals, our exciting acquisitions, and the very best of the Warner Bros. libraries, starting with the phenomenon that is Friends."

Friends will continue to stream on Netflix for the remainder of 2019, but at the start of 2020 the show will no longer be available.

The news is a major blow to Netflix and follows the news that The Office would also be pulled from the streaming service. Friends and The Office are two of Netflix's most-streamed shows, so now the service will need to lean on its original content more than ever.

For what it's worth, Netflix said this week that over 40 million households have streamed Stranger Things 3 since July 4, so a future without Friends might not be so lonely after all.