After the incredible success of Normal People, anticipation for new series Conversations With Friends is seriously high – will Sally Rooney’s fan-favourite debut novel make for another viral TV hit?
Since Normal People was impeccably cast with newcomers who are now cult names (take a bow Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones), attention will surely be turning towards the actors that are playing the nuanced characters in Conversations With Friends – and if we’re talking up-and-coming female leads, that would be Alison Oliver as Frances and Sasha Lane as Bobbi.
Rounding out the main cast is Girls and Sex Education alumni Jemima Kirke as Melissa and Joe Alwyn as her husband Nick.
We’ve got a feeling that the Conversations With Friends ladies are about to be catapulted into a serious cultural moment (what will the follow-up to Connell’s Chain be?). Here’s everything we know about the show’s new stars…
Alison Oliver as Frances
Like Paul Mescal, 24-year-old Alison Oliver is a graduate of Dublin’s Lir Academy drama school, attending a few years after him – and this is her first on-screen role. Speaking to The Times, the Cork native revealed that Paul had given her some advice ahead of the show’s release.
She said: “We chatted away when I was cast and I chatted to Daisy too. We are all part of the Rooneyverse, so there is a camaraderie. They told me to just enjoy it.”
As Frances, she’ll play an introverted student who finds herself in the sophisticated world of married couple Nick and Melissa, alongside her best friend and ex Bobbi. The story becomes quite the ménage-à-quatre as Frances and Nick begin an affair, and Bobbi develops a crush on Melissa – plus there’s various other intriguing dynamics between the foursome. It’s intimate and intense, and of course, there’s sex scenes.
Enda Bowe