Getting Real‘Friends’ Co-Creator Admits She ‘Didn’t Do Enough’ To Encourage Diversity In The Show

“I wish I knew then what I know today. Sorry, I just wish I knew then what I know now. I would’ve made very different decisions,” the 63-year-old said, according to Page Six. “I mean we’ve always encouraged people of diversity in our company, but I didn’t do enough and now all I can think about is what can I do? What can I do differently? How can I run my show in a new way? And that’s something I not only wish I knew when I started showrunning, but I wish I knew all the way up through last year.”

Marta’s admission came just a few weeks after HBO gave a much needed update on the status of the highly-anticipated Friends reunion special, which, according to Bob Greenblatt — WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer chairman — is still in the works and is still slated to hit HBO Max this year. For those who missed it, filming of the special had been delayed due to the current coronavirus pandemic.

“At first we thought, shows will be delayed for a month or two at the most, and now it seems like it’s going to be far longer than that,” Bob told Variety in May. “We’re holding out for being able to get this special done hopefully by the end of the summer, if the stars align and hopefully we can get back into production. We do think there’s a value to having a big, raucous live audience to experience these six great friends coming back together and we didn’t want to just suddenly do it on a web call with, you know, six squares and people shooting from their kitchens and bedrooms.”

Although the streaming service didn’t want to host a reunion under the current stay-at-home conditions, if the current health crisis continues they “may go more to a virtual route, if it is delayed too long.”

Bob continued, “At the moment, we’re trying to look to the future and get this thing done in a more conventional way, and I think it’s worth waiting for.”