The six 'Friends' co-stars have agreed to return to U.S. television's top-rated show for a 9th and final season, NBC network said on Tuesday.
Sources said the new deal would pay the six principal cast members, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox-Arquette, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc $1 million
(NZ$2.4m) per episode.
NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker said, "this was the easiest deal we have ever made."
"Everyone wanted it to work out, because everyone wanted to be able to send the series out appropriately, and in style," Zucker said.
The six co-stars, who as always negotiated as a team, will each get a raise of about US$250,000 (NZ$599,00) per episode, boosting their salaries to around US$1m (NZ$2.4m) for each of 24 segments in the final season. That puts them in the ranks of the highest-paid TV stars but still falls short of the record US$1.6m (NZ$3.8m) per episode that 'Frasier' star Kelsey Grammer reportedly secured in his renewal deal last year.
The 'Friends' cast members will also continue to share in revenues generated from the show's off-network syndication, sources said.
The fate of 'Friends' and its perennial coffee-drinking pals - Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey - had been up in the air for months.
When the six renewed their contract in May 2000 for the seventh and eighth seasons - at US$750,000 (NZ$1.8m) per episode - it was widely assumed the show was nearing its home-stretch. Now, with the series midway through the second year of that deal in the US, the show is enjoying a resurgence with a new story line involving Rachel's pregnancy.
* The eighth season of Friends begins on TV2 at 7.30pm on Wednesday February 20.
