Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends TV adaptation is confirmed

Following the breakout success of the TV adaption of Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People, the team behind the series is reuniting to bring the author’s debut novel, Conversations with Friends, to the small screen.

US streaming service Hulu has just announced that it will be once again teaming up with BBC Three to produce the 12-part series. “Sally Rooney perfectly and beautifully captures the complicated dynamics of relationships in her stories. After bringing that to life in Normal People to an overwhelmingly positive response, we are honored to do the same with Conversations With Friends,” Beatrice Springborn, Hulu’s VP of content, said in a statement.

Published in 2017, Conversations with Friends follows the turbulent relationships of Frances and Bobbi, two Dublin students who get involved with a married couple. The series will be helmed by Irish director Lenny Abrahamson while Alice Birch will take the role of lead writer. 

There is no news on casting as yet, however, we have no doubt it will be as successful as Paul Mescal’s chain-sporting turn as Connell in Normal People. As we eagerly await progress on the series, stay in Rooney’s world with two bonus episodes of Normal People broadcasting today as part of Comic Relief. Called Normal Older People, the episodes will imagine what would have happened to Marianne and Connell 40 years from now. “I promise you, these are two very special bits,” Comic Relief co-founder, Richard Curtis, told RTÉ Radio 1.

In the meantime, read Rooney’s short story, At the Clinic, which follows the pair on a trip to the dentist when they’re both 23 years old. You can also read our interview with the series’ stars, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal, here.