‘Derry Girls’ season 3 is on the way, here’s everything you need to know 

Fans have been lamenting the distinct lack of Derry Girls content for years now but the wait is almost over and not only do we finally have the first look at season three, but we also have a premiere date too. 

Set to welcome all of the core five back, along with many other familiar faces, writer Lisa McGee confirmed that the hit show would return on social media earlier this month, simply writing, “We’re back b*tches!”… which I think says it all, really. 

Here’s everything we know so far. 

Cast 

Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Nicola Coughlan, Louise Harland, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell and James Llewellyn will all reprise their roles as the troublesome group of teenagers we’ve come to know and love over the past two seasons. Siobhán McSweeney also returns as series antagonist Sister Michael, along with Peter Campion (Derry Girls’ answer to Fleabag’s “hot priest”) and of course Tommy Tiernan too.

Even Jamie Dornan has previously expressed interest in making a cameo, recently telling Vulture that he’d love to be involved and has actually discussed the idea with Lisa herself. “We’d talked about trying to get me to do something and it just kind of never worked out with locations and when they shoot, and I’m always away. I like the idea of popping up in that show, and I think it’s genius, and it makes me so proud,” he admitted. 

Other names mentioned include Dara Ó Briain, with McGee telling Radio Times, “It’s always comedians with me. Dara Ó Briain I love. I don’t know if he does any acting!”

Just binged on Derry Girls. It’s all glorious, but @SaoirseJackson edges it for for just going for it, in each moment, so completely and majestically. Comedy gold. P.s new series soon! https://t.co/CRT5R6qvHG

— Dara Ó Briain (@daraobriain) February 20, 2019

Plot

Without giving too much away, it doesn’t look like much has changed and the gang are still up to their usual hijinks… this time with the looming threat of their GCSEs hanging over them. Unsurprisingly, only Claire is truly worried by the prospect and Sister Michael’s sage advice to “try and enjoy what time you’ve left” does little to reassure her. 

Speaking of, the take no nonsense nun apparently has a reckoning of her own in coming episodes with McSweeney previously telling Radio Times that she kind of comes into her own this season. “She hits a few challenges where she’s forced to – just like the girls – grow up herself and she’s forced to confront her own issues a little bit,” she revealed. 

“A bit like being mean, it’s very easy to stay complacent. It’s very easy to stay cynical and sarcastic. It’s a very passive thing. And there are a few things in this series that force her to stand up and actually take account of herself and of what she believes. So, I think Sister Michael becomes more herself. It’s really lovely.”

Naturally, she still has some killer one-liners though. “Yet again, I have some of the best lines in the series. Structurally, it’s a f*cking gift. Everybody gets to work on setting up the gag, I come in, hit the punchline, and then leave again.”

There have also been whispers about a potential romance between James and Erin.

@djllewellyn

Bit of James and Erin #derrygirls #fyp #jerin

? original sound – Taylor Swift

“It might be interesting to explore that a bit more, because they’re great together,” McGee told Radio Times, later adding, “I think the potential is there. It’s something I’m interested in seeing – I might toy with it next season, I’m not sure.” What would their couple name be though – Jerin? Ermes? 

Nicola Coughlan supposedly won’t be in the show as much and recently said that her role had been cut down a lot due to scheduling conflicts. “Last year was really difficult,” she admitted at a press event this week. “We were meant to film Derry Girls in January 2021. And I was totally free and they decided to push it again. And that caused me insane stress because I was on what in the industry is called ‘first call.’ So it means you have to go and do the show that you’re on first call to, which was Bridgerton.

And I was like, ‘Guys, can we just film it?’, and they were like, ‘No, we’re gonna wait.’ And I was like, ‘Oh’. So, we had to make compromises happen in the script of Derry Girls. It was devastating to me because I wanted to be in all of this,” she added.

“But compromises had to be made. And you know, they had to cut down my role somewhat, which was hard. Really, really hard. But I think, you know, the fans of the show are going to be happy.”

However, she did promise that the final series of the show would be a “really nice sign-off”.

Release date 

Filming wrapped on the project at the end of last year, with Galway girl Nicola Coughlan sharing a polaroid photo of herself and Louise Harland to mark the occasion. “Goodbye Derry Girls, it’s been quite a ride,” she wrote at the time. However, the whole thing is bittersweet – both for those directly involved in the series and for fans – as season three, unfortunately, marks the end of the road for the gang. 

“It was always the plan to say goodbye after three series,” Lisa McGee said in a statement last September. She did provide some hope for the future though, hinting that Erin, Clare, Orla, Michelle and James could return “in some other guise someday”.

My Statement about #DerryGirls. What a ride! pic.twitter.com/TvYKDRY697

— Lisa McGee (@LisaMMcGee) September 23, 2021

As for season three, well, we’ll be getting a look at that far sooner than any of us expected and new episodes will premiere in just two weeks’ time on April 12. 

Trailer 

If anyone is feeling anxious, worried or maybe you just want a chat, definitely don’t go crying to Sister Michael about it… just watch the trailer and try to console yourself with the fact that season three is on the way.