Author Sally Rooney Says Her TV Adaptations Like for ‘Normal People’ Is ‘Not Where I Belonged’

Sorry, Sally Rooney fans: There won’t be more TV adaptations of her work anytime soon.

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After the success of “Normal People” and “Conversations With Friends,” author Rooney told the New York Times that she has “decided not to accept any offers to option the rights” for her third book, “Beautiful World, Where Are You?.” The novel was released in 2021; Rooney’s fourth book “Intermezzo” is being released in September 2024.

“I felt like it was just time to take a break from that and let the book be its own thing for a while,” Rooney said of opting out of bringing “Beautiful World, Where Are You?” to the screen.

“The experience of working on [‘Normal People’] had been, in so many ways, amazing — the team of people involved in it. But it did also feel like a really big job,” Rooney said. “Then, when the show was broadcast, that felt like a lot in terms of the amount of discourse that it generated and the amount of media attention. I felt that world was not where I belonged. I felt like, ‘OK, now I know that my books are where I belong, and that’s all that I want to be doing.’”

The viral Hulu series “Normal People” starred Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones and debuted in April 2020. Both actors’ respective careers skyrocketed after its premiere. Rooney was a screenwriter on the series along with Alice Birch.

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Rooney told IndieWire in 2020 that she “didn’t think I would have any involvement” on the project.

“It was sort of just like, ‘Yeah, sure. I guess that’s something that could be interesting, if other people find the idea is going to germinate some new ideas for them — I have no objection to that,’” she said. “I realized during my first attempt at writing them as episodes, I have these two central characters, one of whom is characterized by not having any friends and really having no one to talk to, and another one who is characterized by being really taciturn — his entire external affect to the world is he’s shy and reserved and doesn’t really say a lot. And I was like, ‘Oh my God. This is so much harder than I thought it would be.'”

“Conversations With Friends” was later released in 2022, with “Normal People” director and executive producer Lenny Abrahamson adapting the novel. Rooney served as an executive producer but was not a screenwriter on the show.