Hulu Picks Up “Conversations with Friends” Based on Sally Rooney’s Critically Acclaimed Debut Novel

Hulu has picked up Conversations with Friends based on Sally Rooney’s critically acclaimed debut novel.

Hulu announces straight to series order on Sally Rooney’s critically acclaimed Conversations with Friends, following the success of Hulu’s adaptation of her best-selling novel Normal People.

Conversations with Friends is a 12-episode, half-hour, a drama adapted from Sally Rooney’s debut novel, produced by award-winning production company Element Pictures, in association with BBC Three.

Conversations with Friends joins Hulu’s growing slate of critically-acclaimed book-to-screen adaptations including The Handmaid’s Tale and Little Fires Everywhere, and recent fan-favorite Hulu Original Normal People, which ranks as one of Hulu’s most talked about Originals on social media in 2020.

Conversations with Friends follows two female Dublin college students forging an unexpected, strange, and sexually charged relationship with an older married couple, which results in a complicated pair of love triangles that upends their lives.

“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. We are excited to continue our creative partnership with Sally, Element Pictures, Lenny and the BBC, which has been a dream collaboration”

said Beatrice Springborn, VP Content, Hulu

“We loved working with Hulu on Normal People – they are an inspiring and very talented team and all of us at Element are delighted to be partnering with them again, alongside our friends at the BBC, on the screen adaptation of Sally Rooney’s incredible first novel, Conversations with Friends”

said Executive Producer, Ed Guiney
· Lenny Abrahamson (Normal People, ROOM) will be lead director, alongside Alice Birch (Normal People, Succession, and Lady Macbeth) who will serve as lead writer.

Conversations with Friends is an Element Pictures production (Normal People, THE FAVOURITE, THE LOBSTER) for Hulu and BBC Three. The series is executive produced by Ed Guiney (Normal People, THE FAVOURITE, ROOM, THE LOBSTER), Andrew Lowe (Normal People, THE FAVOURITE, ROOM, LOBSTER), and Emma Norton (Normal People, ROSIE, A DATE FOR MAD MARY) for Element Pictures, and Rose Garnett and Tommy Bulfin for the BBC. Sally Rooney and Lenny Abrahamson will also serve as executive producers, and Catherine Magee as series producer. Endeavor Content handled the US sale to Hulu and is handling all international sales.

Coming off the success of Hulu’s Normal People, Conversations with Friends is the second Sally Rooney series Hulu will adapt in partnership with BBC Three, Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe’s Element Pictures and with both, Lenny Abrahamson and Alice Birch coming back to direct and write.