Everything We Know About Hulu’s ‘Conversations With Friends’: Cast, Release Date and More

Credit: Enda Bowe/Hulu

Everything We Know About Hulu's 'Conversations With Friends': Cast, Release Date and More

Heartbreak, romance and complicated relationships — Normal People is about to get a run for its money when Conversations With Friends finally hits the small screen. The limited series, based on Sally Rooney's bestselling debut by the same name, centers on Frances and her ex-girlfriend-turned-best friend Bobbi who become romantically entwined with an older, married couple in their 30s. Despite breaking up three years before the story's beginning, Frances and Bobbi are still inseparable — and together they are charmed by Melissa, an older, more confident writer. Through her, the women meet Melissa's handsome actor husband, Nick, and the foursome begin an intense flirtation that will test the bonds between both couples. "You have these various permutations within that quartet of relationships and power dynamics and attraction," director Lenny Abrahamson told Vanity Fair about the series in February 2022. “But all of it revolves around Frances." The 2017 novel frequently utilizes text messages and emails to illustrate the changing dynamics between Frances, Bobbi, Melissa and Nick, but Rooney teased that the adaptation of Conversations With Friends will approach things from a different angle. "I'm confident we're going to find fresh and interesting ways of dramatizing the novel's dynamics, and I'm excited to watch the process take shape‎," the author said in a February 2020 statement. [jwplayer OIyoLQuI-zhNYySv2] Ahead of filming, the cast got to know one another through months of Zoom auditions and meetings, as well as being forced to isolate together in Belfast, Ireland. "The only people we could hang out with were each other," Joe Alwyn, who plays Nick, told Vanity Fair. "We were lucky that we all got on really well." Jemima Kirke, who plays his wife Melissa, agreed. “What became more and more apparent the more we shot was that we were all really well cast—it was almost like there was some sort of conspiracy that we weren’t aware of, and suddenly we found ourselves in, like, a Hitchcock movie in a room all together," she explained. "It was almost like [the casting directors] had a sense of humor, or they just weren’t telling us everything," the Girls alum continued. "There was an essential piece about each of us as people that were shared with the character." The cast didn't only connect to one another, but also to their fictional counterparts. "Because [Sally's] writing is so intimate and sensitive and so characterful, I felt so attached to the book and like I really knew these people. So then getting an audition was so surreal, because in my head it was like,'These are real people!’" Alison Oliver, who stars as Frances, confessed during a Television Critics Association Panel in February 2022. Keep scrolling to find out everything we know about Conversations With Friends ahead of its premiere this spring: [podcast_block]

Credit: Enda Bowe/Hulu

Everything We Know About Hulu's 'Conversations With Friends': Cast, Release Date and More

Heartbreak, romance and complicated relationships — Normal People is about to get a run for its money when Conversations With Friends finally hits the small screen. The limited series, based on Sally Rooney's bestselling debut by the same name, centers on Frances and her ex-girlfriend-turned-best friend Bobbi who become romantically entwined with an older, married couple in their 30s. Despite breaking up three years before the story's beginning, Frances and Bobbi are still inseparable — and together they are charmed by Melissa, an older, more confident writer. Through her, the women meet Melissa's handsome actor husband, Nick, and the foursome begin an intense flirtation that will test the bonds between both couples. "You have these various permutations within that quartet of relationships and power dynamics and attraction," director Lenny Abrahamson told Vanity Fair about the series in February 2022. “But all of it revolves around Frances." The 2017 novel frequently utilizes text messages and emails to illustrate the changing dynamics between Frances, Bobbi, Melissa and Nick, but Rooney teased that the adaptation of Conversations With Friends will approach things from a different angle. "I'm confident we're going to find fresh and interesting ways of dramatizing the novel's dynamics, and I'm excited to watch the process take shape‎," the author said in a February 2020 statement. [jwplayer OIyoLQuI-zhNYySv2] Ahead of filming, the cast got to know one another through months of Zoom auditions and meetings, as well as being forced to isolate together in Belfast, Ireland. "The only people we could hang out with were each other," Joe Alwyn, who plays Nick, told Vanity Fair. "We were lucky that we all got on really well." Jemima Kirke, who plays his wife Melissa, agreed. “What became more and more apparent the more we shot was that we were all really well cast—it was almost like there was some sort of conspiracy that we weren’t aware of, and suddenly we found ourselves in, like, a Hitchcock movie in a room all together," she explained. "It was almost like [the casting directors] had a sense of humor, or they just weren’t telling us everything," the Girls alum continued. "There was an essential piece about each of us as people that were shared with the character." The cast didn't only connect to one another, but also to their fictional counterparts. "Because [Sally's] writing is so intimate and sensitive and so characterful, I felt so attached to the book and like I really knew these people. So then getting an audition was so surreal, because in my head it was like,'These are real people!’" Alison Oliver, who stars as Frances, confessed during a Television Critics Association Panel in February 2022. Keep scrolling to find out everything we know about Conversations With Friends ahead of its premiere this spring: [podcast_block]

Credit: Enda Bowe/Hulu

The Plot

Set in Ireland in 2008, Conversations With Friends follows Frances (Oliver) and her ex-girlfriend Bobbi (Sasha Lane), two artistic twenty-somethings who become involved with an older married couple. As Bobbi and Melissa (Kirke) grow closer, Frances begins a romantic affair with Nick (Alwyn). As the two friends take sides in the other couple's relationship, all four relationships are tested — and the bond between Frances and Bobbi could be destroyed.

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The Cast

While Oliver, Alwyn and Kirke's characters all closely resemble their book counterparts, Bobbi has been tweaked to incorporate some elements of Sasha Lane's life experience as a Black American woman. "Lenny and I had a lot of conversations about where she’s from, how much where she came from is spoken about," the American Honey star told Vanity Fair. "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."

Abrahamson added: "We saw brilliant people, but there was just something about Sasha. There are few people who capture that quality that Bobbi is described as having in the novel — this kind of extraordinariness, this impact."

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The Teaser

Hulu released the first trailer in February 2022, which teased the complicated relationships between the four main characters. "People can be in love and have meaningful relationships with other people," Bobbi says in a voice over, as the camera captures all of their lingering looks and some passionate kisses between Nick and Frances. "It's never just friends," the teaser warns.

Credit: Enda Bowe/Hulu

The Release Date

While a specific release date has not yet been announced, Conversations With Friends is slated to premiere on Hulu in May 2022.

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The Author

Conversations With Friends is Rooney's debut novel, and much of the story was influenced by her own experiences as a creative in Dublin in the late 2000s. "I think it's right to describe it in one sense as a coming-of-age story," she told PBS Newshour in September 2019. "I suppose what I was trying to do was observe the texture of the world that I myself was inhabiting. So, even though all the characters are completely fictional and their exploits are very much figments of my imagination, the world that they live in was and is very similar to the world that I was living in as I wrote the book."

Credit: Enda Bowe/Hulu

The Connections to 'Normal People'

Much of the creative team behind Normal People — including director Abrahamson and screenwriter Alice Birch — have returned to bring Rooney's novel the small screen. In addition, Oliver has a connection to Paul Mescal, the breakout star of the 2020 series: she also graduated from the Lir Academy in Ireland and is making her professional debut in an adaptation of a Sally Rooney book.