Derry Girls is returning to Channel 4 for Season 3.
The hilarious sitcom series, set in Derry (Londonderry), Northern Ireland, has received critical acclaim since it premiered on Channel 4 back in January 2018.
Derry Girls was an instant hit with U.K. viewers. The series was rated as Channel 4’s biggest comedy launch since 2004.
Season 1, which premiered on Channel 4 in January 2018, was watched by an average of 2.5 million viewers across the United Kingdom.
The Season 2 premiere in March 2019 was watched by an average of 1.8 million overnight viewers, 200,000 more than the Season 1 premiere in January 2018.
Season 1 was added to Netflix U.S. in December 2018, after the season finale aired on Channel 4 in February 2018. Season 2 became available on Netflix in August 2019, after the season finale aired on Channel 4 in April 2019.
The BAFTA-nominated series was also an instant hit with U.S. and international viewers.
Season 1 earned a critical review rating of 100 percent and an audience score of 96 percent, while Season 2 earned a critical review rating of 97 percent and an audience score of 96 percent.
This article provides everything that is known about Derry Girls Season 3 and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s dig down into what is known so far.
Is there going to be Season 3 of Derry Girls?
Channel 4 confirmed Derry Girls for Season 3 in April 2019, immediately after the Season 2 finale aired on Channel 4.
Release date latest: When is Derry Girls Season 3 likely to come out?
Production of Season 3 was originally scheduled to start in the spring of 2020, but filming was put on hold after the British authorities announced a nationwide lockdown to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan, who plays Clare Devlin, revealed on Angela Scanlon’s Thanks A Million podcast on June 1, 2019, that Season 3 was scheduled to start filming “around now,” but it was halted before the cast could see the scripts, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We should have been shooting it now but we obviously had to push back,” showrunner Lisa McGee also revealed in an interview on Ray D’Arcy’s RTÉ Radio 1 show in July 2020. “We are waiting until it’s safe as there’s a lot of stuff to work out.”
So, while fans can rest assured that Derry Girls Season 3 is coming, we may have to wait a while before it premieres on Channel 4.
How soon will depend on when coronavirus restrictions are eventually lifted.
Derry Girls Season 3 delayed further
Derry Girls has been delayed even further, and it is all because of COVID-19 restrictions.
In an interview at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Channel 4’s Director of Programmes Ian Katz said that the COVID-19 restrictions mean people won’t be able to see Season 3 for a long time.
“In comedy, I suppose our biggest frustration has been that Derry Girls has been quite substantially delayed because [out] of pretty much everything we make, it’s the hardest thing to make with social distancing,” Katz said.
“It’s the most close-up, intimate production.”
When will Derry Girls Season 3 drop on Netflix?
Netflix fans will have to wait even longer than Channel 4 viewers to see Derry Girls Season 3.
Season 2 dropped on Netflix U.S. in August 2019 after the season finale aired on Channel 4 in April 2019. This means that Netflix viewers in the U.S. may have to wait some months after the show ends on Channel 4.
Is Season 3 the last of the series?
Cast member Tommy Tiernan, who plays Erin’s dad, Gerry, recently dropped a bombshell on Jason Manford’s Absolute Radio on March 8, 2020, that Season 3 could be the last for the show.
But writer Lisa McGee took to Twitter the next day to allay fears about the future of the show. She tweeted that they were “plotting” the future of the show after Season 3.
There could be a Derry Girls movie after Season 3
McGee revealed on Ray D’Arcy’s RTÉ Radio 1 show in July 2020 that she was planning to make a film based on the series.
“For a while, I didn’t know if it would work, but now an idea is starting to vaguely form in my head, so after series three, I’ll think about that a bit more.”
But she was not specific about when the film would likely come out. She only said that it “would be the long-term plan.”
Derry Girls Season 3 cast update
Channel 4 has not confirmed the casting for Derry Girls Season 3.
However, since the upcoming season will continue the story of the lives of the teenage friends from Derry, we can expect Saoirse-Monica Jackson to reprise her role as Erin, Louisa Harland as Orla, Nicola Coughlan as Clare, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell as Michelle, and Dylan Llewellyn as James.
We can also expect Tara Lynne O’Neill to reprise her role as Erin’s mom Mary, Tommy Tiernan as Erin’s dad Gerry, Kathy Kiera Clarke as Orla’s mom Sarah, and Siobhan McSweeney as the headmistress Sister Michael.
Ian McElhinney will also likely return as Erin’s maternal grandad Joe and Leah O’Rourke as the insufferable school prefect Jenny Joyce.
What is the show about?
Derry Girls, written by Lisa McGee and produced by Hat Trick Production, follows high schoolers Erin, her cousin Orla, and their friends: Clare, Michelle, and James.
Erin lives with her parents Mary and Gerry, in Derry, Northern Ireland.
The series, based on the childhood experiences of show creator McGee, is set in the 1990s toward the end of The Trouble, a reference to the nationalist conflict that started in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s.
The series follows the teenagers’ hilarious exploits against the backdrop of nationalist turmoil in their native land.
Season 2 features the real-life speech by U.S. President Bill Clinton when he visited Derry in 1995.
Derry Girls Season 3 plot
According to Radio Times, series writer Lisa McGee revealed that Derry Girls Season 3 would be after Bill Clinton’s 1995 visit that ushered in the era of peace talks leading to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
She also hinted that James could join a rival gang and that the others will try to bring him back into the fold.
McGee also revealed that Season 3 would see the gang “grow up a little bit.”
Season 3 could also delve further into James’ budding romantic relationship with Erin, first hinted in Season 2.
McGee revealed in an interview with Radio Times that Erin might end up romantically involved with the “wee English fella” after he took Erin to the prom in Season 2.
Fans and members of the cast, including Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Nicola Coughlan, have expressed their support for the idea.
Jackson admitted that there was “definitely a spark there” between the two and that a romantic relationship was possible, while Coughlan said she wanted “it (romance) to happen so badly.”
Absolutely love this series. My only problem is that I canceled my Netflix Subscription after Cuties was released. No idea how I am going to watch it.
@Brick13 Well that’s what you get for being a know-nothing reactionary.