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'Friends' is leaving Netflix in 2020 and moving to HBO Max streaming service

The Central Perk gang will still be there for subscribers of WarnerMedia's new streaming service.
"Friends" cast
Watch "Friends" on Netflix while you can.Getty Images
/ Source: TODAY

It's official: Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey will no longer be there for us on Netflix.

Beginning in 2020, "Friends" will be moving to WarnerMedia's new streaming service, HBO Max.

Netflix, which reportedly spent $80 million last year to keep "Friends" through 2019, confirmed the news with a sad tweet on Tuesday.

"The One Where We Have To Say Goodbye," Netflix wrote. "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."

While nabbing the exclusive streaming rights to all 236 episodes of "Friends" is a major win for HBO Max, it's hardly the only hit show the new service will air.

HBO Max also owns the exclusive streaming rights to "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "Pretty Little Liars," WarnerMedia said in a press release Tuesday.

All told, the new service, which will launch publicly in the spring of 2020, will feature shows and movies from HBO, Warner Bros., New Line, DC Entertainment, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, The CW, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, Looney Tunes and other content providers.

Still, the news about "Friends" leaving Netflix hit some U.S. subscribers hard on Tuesday.

Many expressed their sadness and frustration using memes of the show's characters.

The emotional response is hardly surprising. When rumors swirled last year that Netflix was losing "Friends," fans responded by starting a Change.org petition calling its removal "unfair, unacceptable and downright inhumane."

Some U.S. subscribers seemed unable to accept the truth about the Central Perk gang's split with Netflix. "Hopefully you’re just on a break!" one wrote.

Meanwhile, others lashed out at Netflix in their grief.

"Guess I'll no longer be there for you in 2020," one told the streaming service. "Thanks for the heads up though."