Conversations with Friends: Joe Alwyn and Jemima nominated Kirke for the throw

Joe Alwyn and Jemima Kirke have been named as part of the team for the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s 2017 book, Conversations With Friends.

The actress, 29, who is going on to sing with singer Taylor Swift, and the Girls actress, 35, will play married couple Nick and Melissa in the 12-part series BBC and Hulu.

While new entrant Alison Oliver plays a show and book Frances with Utopia star Sasha Lane, 25, takes over the role of her best friend and boyfriend Bobbi.

The news comes after the success of the 2018 Rooney novel Normal People which was transformed into a hit TV series last year.

They saw Mes Mescal and Daisy directors Edgar-Jones, who embraced the love story of Connell and Marianne, climb to fame after going out through the first lock.

Filming for Conversations with Friends will take place later this year in Dublin, Belfast and other international venues yet to be announced.

Like the 2018 Rooney breakout, Conversations With Friends is also based at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

Conversations with Friends following Exes turned out best friends Frances (Alison) and Bobbi (Sasha), and the strange and unexpected connection they form with a married couple, Melissa (Jemima) and Nick (Joe) from after meeting at a poetry night in Ireland.

Frances Alison stars as an emerging talent from Lir Academy drama school in Dublin, Ireland, whose graduates include Mescal People Normal.

Joe has been successful in films such as The Favorite and Mary Queen of Scots, which won an Oscar and Jemima is best known for her role as Jessa in Lena Dunham’s daughters.

Sasha made her film debut in American Honey in 2016, she also starred as Jessica Hyde in Utopia.

It was confirmed in June that BBC Three and Hulu were editing the novel Rooney Conversations with Friends.

The 12-part half-hour series will be directed by Lenny Abrahamson, Oscar-nominated Irish director, who also directed Normal People, while Rooney will be on board as an executive producer.

Piers Wenger, director of BBC Drama, said of the news: ‘Lenny’s deep love for writing and Sally’s talent for finding actors to bring her fictional creations to life played a major part in bringing normal people successfully.

‘In throwing Alison, Sasha, Joe and Jemima, that same talent and instinct is evident and we can’t wait to see how they bring Frances, Bobbi, Nick and Melissa to life.’

Although Lenny said of the design announcement: ‘I feel so happy to be collaborating with four such great actors to bring Sally’ s brilliant novel to the screen.

‘Over the past few months, it has been an honor to work with Element Pictures and our amazing team of writers to bring the scripts to a level where we all feel so happy to start shooting.

‘I have a team of the world with me (many of whom work on Normal People) and support a team and I am particularly pleased to have Leanne Welham come on board.

‘I have been a great admirer of her work for a long time and there is no doubt that she brings good skill and subtlety to the events she directs. ‘

Ed Guiney, executive producer and director of Element Pictures, said: ‘Alison, Sasha, Joe and Jemima are the dream team to lead Conversations with Friends.

‘All of us at Element are so pleased with the amazing scripts from the amazing team of writers that we have developed by keeping an eye on the brilliant Lenny Abrahamson.

‘We can’t wait to start filming with Lenny, Leanne and our amazing team and crew to bring Sally’s amazing novel to the screen. ‘

Normal People writer Alice Birch, who is also the story editor of the HBO drama Succession, will be the lead writer for the change.

Birch also works with Mark O’Halloran, Meadhbh McHugh and Susan Soon He Stanton.

Sally first released Conversations With Friends in 2017 and released Normal People in 2018, with the latter winning the Costa Book and Irish Novel of the Year award – to name a few awards.

Normal People co-producer Ed Guiney tightened plans for future Conversations with Friends in May when asked about a second series following Connell and Marianne.

‘Not in the short term. We’ve turned our attention – we’re transforming Conversations with Friends into a TV series. But maybe down the line we’ll return to Connell and Marianne, ‘he joked.

Normal People is the largest show ever seen on BBC Three with over 23 million downloads worldwide and more than 6.75 million devices watching the first program. This makes it the most popular program ever on the channel.

The 12-part drama is based on Rooney’s favorite novel about Connell’s troubled working-class relationship [Mescal] and Marianne in good spirits [Edgar-Jones], recommended for the promotion of sexuality.

This is an exciting time for Rooney and her third novel, Beautiful World Where Are You, is due to be released in September.