‘Derry Girls’ Movie Is In The Works

A Derry Girls movie is on the way, as show writer Lisa McGee says she already has the idea for the film, the Irish Mirror reported.

The show, which is on Netflix, will reportedly follow up Season 3 with a movie. McGee said ideas for the film began to form while waiting for the go-ahead for filming the third season. The next season of the show has been delayed as they have been unable to film due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We should have been shooting it now but it has been pushed back and we are trying to wait until it is safe,” she said. “So after series three I’ll think about that a bit more I’d like to do it, and I think the girls would like to do it. The cast even, some of them are men and boys.”

Speaking on Angela Scanlon’s podcast, Thanks A Million, in April, actress Nicola Coughlan, who plays Clare, said that the cast is excited to go back to filming the show. She added that they have not seen the script for the next season yet.

“We made the second series back in 2018, so it’s been a long time since we’ve been together filming,” she said.

The first season debuted in January 2018 on Channel 4 to much acclaim. It was followed by Season 2 in August 2019. The show was picked up by Netflix internationally shortly after the first season aired.

McGee largely based the show and the main character Erin, played by Saoirse-Monica Jackson, on her own experiences growing up in Derry during “the Troubles,” which is what the conflict between nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland is called. The plot of the show centers around the main characters navigating their way through adolescence, while the conflict looms around them.

“But a lot of it for me was just having to go a different way to school because of a bomb scare,” she said in an interview with The New York Times.

Strong memories of McGee’s adolescence make their way into the show, such as Bill Clinton’s visit to the town in 1995, which featured in Season 2. The finale of the second season relied on archived footage of President Clinton’s speech.

The British show was met which much praise after Netflix picked it up, gaining worldwide viewers on the platform. Closer to Derry, the comedy was the most-watched show in Northern Ireland since 2002, which is when record-keeping began.