Normal People author Sally Rooney’s novel Conversations With Friends confirmed for major TV adaptation reuniting the same team who worked on the smash hit drama
BBC Three and Hulu are hoping for another TV triumph as it’s confirmed the channels are adapting Sally Rooney’s novel Conversations with Friends.
Following the huge success of Normal People, the drama series based on Rooney’s 2018 novel, Hulu and the BBC have teamed up again to adapt the author’s 2017 debut.
A 12 part series of half hour episodes will be helmed by Irish director Lenny Abrahamson, who also directed Normal People.
More to come! Sally Rooney’s novel Conversations with Friends is being adapted for television following the huge success of Normal People
Normal People writer Alice Birch, who is also a story editor on HBO drama Succession, will be lead writer for the adaptation.
Like her 2018 smash, Conversations With Friends is also set in Trinity College Dublin.
It follows two college students Frances and Bobbi, and the strange, unexpected connection they forge with a married couple, Melissa and Nick.
Sally first published Conversations With Friends in 2017 and released Normal People in 2018, with the latter winning Costa Book Award and Irish Novel of the Year – to name a few accolades.
Success: Following the huge success of Normal People, the drama series based on Rooney’s 2018 novel, Hulu and the BBC have teamed up again to adapt the author’s 2017 debut
Normal People co-producer Ed Guiney teased the future plans for Conversations with Friends last mont when asked a bout a second series following Connell and Marianne:
‘Not in the short term. We’ve turned our attention – we’re adapting Conversations with Friends as a television series.’
‘But maybe down the line we’ll come back to Connell and Marianne,’ he added.
Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones will return to their Normal People roles as Comic Relief revealed this week that the characters will return for two specials after series one broke BBC iPlayer records.
The two specials will air on Friday June 26 on RTÉ Does Comic Relief in Ireland, with Paul and Daisy reprising their roles.
Huge hit: A 12 part series of half hour episodes will be helmed by Irish director Lenny Abrahamson, who also directed Normal People
The charity’s co-founder Richard Curtis thrilled fans when he confirmed the news, which will imagine the lead characters’ lives several decades into the future.
Speaking on RTE Radio 1’s Sunday with Miriam, he said: ‘There’s a beautiful piece called Normal Older People, which is imagining what would have happened to Marianne and Connell 40 years from now.
‘I promise you, these are two very special bits. It’s so much better than anything we’ve ever made. I mean I can’t even say all about it because there’s a guest star in it. But it’s really, it’s really beautiful.
Richard also confirmed that series director Lenny Abrahamson will also return to helm the specials.
Normal People has been the most watched show on BBC Three ever.
The first episode of the drama has now been watched by 6.75 million devices just two months after it aired, making it the most popular programme on the channel ever.
Return: Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones will return to their Normal People roles as Comic Relief revealed this week that the characters will return for two specials