Following the success of Sally Rooney’s first series, Normal People, her debut novel, Conversations With Friends, is up next to be adapted for television, slated for a 12 episode season coming to Hulu later this year. According to Elle, the same creative team that worked on Normal People will also be working on Conversations With Friends, alongside the talented mind of Rooney, setting the show up for similar success.
Though its actual release date is yet to be announced, the series is set to premiere sometime in May 2022 and, much to fans’ excitement, will feature the same central characters and plot points as its inspiration. Read on to learn more about the show, from how you’ll be able to watch and when to the controversial casting choices and plotlines that made the transition from novel to script.
The Conversations With Friends trailer is here, but it doesn’t share much.
BBC Three on YouTube dropped the official less-than-a-minute trailer from Hulu on February 8, encouraging fans to “prepare to get intimate.” Although the trailer only teases small snippets of the season, it evokes the same angsty, Irish vibe as Normal People, especially with its homogenous lighting and cinematography style. There are many scenes of friends gathered around the dining table, laughing over glasses of wine and light conversation, and other scenes between two of the main characters stealing intimate glances, foreshadowing a potential love affair.
The novel explores the dynamics of a friend group of four.
Similar to Rooney’s general formula, Conversations With Friends is a story about exactly what it suggests in its title: the mundane conversations and relationships between ordinary people. The book was first published in 2017, years before the vast mania surrounding Normal People. Conversations With Friends is a contemporary fiction novel about four Irish friends (and lovers, and ex-lovers) named Frances, Bobbi, Melissa, and Nick. Melissa and Nick are older and more mature – and happily (or maybe not…) married – than their younger counterparts; Frances and Bobbi, best friends and former lovers, are in their twenties. Spoiler alert: Following loads of sexual and emotional tension, Frances and Nick eventually have an affair.
Though fictional, Conversations With Friends effectively sheds light on the modern complexities and fissures of contemporary romantic relationships, which is what makes Rooney’s work so easily digestible, relatable, and enjoyable.
THE cast is (SOMEWHAT) CONTROVERSIAL.
Alison Oliver (Frances) and Joe Alwyn (Nick) star alongside Sasha Lane (Bobbi) and Jemima Kirke (Melissa). Although Conversations With Friends is centered around Irish characters, most of the actors are not Irish. Lane is American, Alwyn is from London, and Kirke is English-American (she was born in England and then moved to New York at a young age).
Some fans may worry that this will threaten the authenticity of the story, but they can look back to Normal People for comfort. Despite her character being Irish, actor Daisy Edgar-Jones (Marianne) is British. Regardless of her false accent, critics praised her portrayal of Marianne, and the show was nonetheless successful.
Based on the incredibly short trailer, it’s difficult to tell how the actors of Conversations With Friends fare with their Irish accents; we’ll just have to wait and see once the show premieres.
The show’s release date has yet to be offically announced.
We know the show is slated to air on Hulu sometime in May 2022, but a final date has yet to be narrowed down — or at least announced.
The DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NOVEL AND THE SHOW (THAT WE KNOW OF SO FAR).
Although Conversations With Friends hasn’t premiered yet, it’s already apparent that there are some key differences between the novel and the show.
The first main difference is the portrayal of Bobbi as a character. In the show adaptation, Bobbi identifies as a Black American who is “slowly picking up some Irish phrases as she’s spent a few years away from home in New York,” as reported by Vanity Fair. While different from the original version, Lane herself spoke on the creative decision, saying, “Lenny [the director] and I had a lot of conversations about where she’s from, how much where she came from is spoken about. We wanted to keep Bobbi even further from the rest of them. Letting her have an American accent kept her a bit more singled out.”
Lane also identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and her character Bobbi identifies as gay in both the show adaptation and the novel, offering representation that is oftentimes lacking in the entertainment sphere.
And while this is more speculation than a tangible difference, we have to wonder: Will the show follow the exact plot of the novel? Rooney worked very closely with the creative team on Normal People to ensure consistency between the adaptation and the book, which is a huge reason why the series is strikingly similar to its source material. She’s again working with the same team that prioritizes maintaining the authenticity and accuracy of the story, so it’s probably not likely that the show’s plot will veer too off course. Element Pictures co-founder Ed Guiney spoke on this notion, telling Vanity Fair, “When we had questions about things, we would always look back at what Sally had written, and move toward that.”
After the outpour of love for Hulu’s Normal People, it’ll be interesting to see if Conversations With Friends will live up to fans’ expectations or if it will fall flat. Certainly, Conversations With Friends will have some big shoes to fill, but Rooney and the rest of the show’s creative team seem up to the challenge.