Everything you need to know about the return of the Northern Irish comedy Derry Girls.
Published: Thursday, 6th January 2022 at 5:25 pm
Channel 4 dramedy Derry Girls is finally arriving on our screens sometime later this year, with a 2022 release date confirmed.
The third and final season now has a first-look teaser trailer for the long-awaited instalment, with a short clip apparently showing the girls and the ‘wee English fella’ James getting arrested.
The clip, released in December 2021, appears to show a nighttime raid, with the whole gang instructed to put their hands in the air as helicopter spotlights shine on their faces. “This is a set-up!” yells Erin, while her law-abiding school pal Clare (Nicola Coughlan) babbles.
The beloved Channel 4 comedy has been missing from our screens since April 2019 – but it looks like there’s cause for fans to be cautiously optimistic, with a return date set for sometime in 2022.
In an exclusive RadioTimes.com interview that took place Friday 22nd October, Nicola Coughlan said she would be “in Belfast filming on Monday morning” for the third and final season of Derry Girls.
Of the third season, she said: “I think it’s a lot more of an epic scale this time. Lisa [McGee, the show’s creator] knew she had huge ambitions with this one, [with] what she wanted to do. She’s a genius. Like, there’s not really any other word for her. She just – everything is so brilliantly balanced and nuanced and the characters, there’s so much detail in every single character in those scripts.”
Siobhan McSweeney previously revealed hopes to film the third series later in 2021, with production having already been delayed on more than one occasion.
McSweeney, who plays Sister Michael in the show, told RadioTimes.com, “The one thing I would say is that we are hoping to do it this year. It’s a scheduling nightmare, as you can imagine.
“[Show creator] Lisa [McGee] doesn’t want to compromise on quality, obviously, but I think we’re all very impatient to get it done for very obvious reasons.”
Last October, Erin actress Saoirse-Monica Jackson told Metro: “It’s really important to us that we keep the authenticity of the show and that we don’t deliver any show that’s in any way a limited version. It’s important for us to shoot it at home [in Ireland].’
And while fans might be disappointed to hear the series is ending, writer Lisa McGee – who based Derry Girls on her own childhood – has hinted she’s still “plotting” potential further instalments, including a possible Derry Girls film.
In the meantime, we still have a full new season to look forward to – and potentially a long-anticipated romance between Erin and James.
You can catch up on the last two seasons in the meantime, and read on below for everything you need to know about the third season of Derry Girls.
Derry Girls season 3 release date
Derry Girls is coming to Channel 4 sometime in 2022. We’ll keep this page updated with any news.
Channel 4 renewed Derry Girls for a third series back in April 2020, with filming set to start in June.
However, production was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to series star Nicola Coughlan (who plays Clare).
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph in January 2021, the Bridgerton actress said that the cast were still waiting for production to restart, due to the need to shoot in Derry.
“We’re still waiting, because it’s integral to the show that we film in Derry,” she said. “And we can’t do anything involving a crowd right now, so logistically, it’s really tough.”
“We were meant to start filming around now,” she said on Angela Scanlon’s Thanks A Million podcast (via Metro) in June 2020. “It was mad because when this all started, I think your brain makes assumptions to make you feel better, like ‘it’ll just be a month, it’ll be fine’.
“But filming has been put on hold for now which sucks, and we’re all really excited to go back and start again and see the scripts because we actually haven’t,” she added.
However, in late October 2021, Nicola Coughlan said she would be “in Belfast filming on Monday morning” for the third and final season of Derry Girls.
To watch seasons one and two, you’ll need to go onto Channel 4’s All 4, following Netflix’s announcement on 14th July 2020 that the arrival of season two on their platform had been delayed.
UPDATE: it looks like we were a bit early with this one so have had to take season two down for now. We’ll let you know when it’s coming back as soon as we can. In the meantime, it’s available now on All 4. https://t.co/UQR5dZvqeb
— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) July 14, 2020
Will season 3 be the last of Derry Girls?
Unfortunately, yes – in September 2021, Derry Girls writer Lisa McGee confirmed that the hit comedy would end after three series.
“The plan was always to say goodbye after three series,” McGee said. “Who knows if Erin, Clare, Orla, Michelle and James will return in some other guise someday but for now, this is it for us and we’re excited to start filming this series with our incredible cast and crew to hopefully take our loyal fans on one last adventure.”
My Statement about #DerryGirls. What a ride! pic.twitter.com/TvYKDRY697
— Lisa McGee (@LisaMMcGee) September 23, 2021
Tommy Tiernan, who plays Erin’s dad Gerry, had previously let slip in March 2020 that he thought season three would be the show’s last.
Speaking on Jason Manford’s Absolute Radio show, as reported by Metro, he said: “As far as I know this is the very last series.”
At the time, McGee took to Twitter to let fans know she was in the thick of penning series three and didn’t know what the future held but “please don’t worry”.
Hi everyone. I’m currently in the thick of writing series 3. Who knows what the future holds for The Derry Girls but please don’t worry…we are plotting!!
— Lisa McGee (@LisaMMcGee) March 9, 2020
The Channel 4 sitcom’s creator has also since revealed that she’s been contemplating a spin-off Derry Girls film.
Speaking on Ray D’Arcy’s RTÉ Radio 1 show on 20th July 2020 (via Belfast Telegraph), she said that she’s beginning to think of ideas for a Derry Girls movie.
“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,” she said. “I’d like to do it and I think the cast would too so that would be the long-term plan.
“We should have been shooting it now but we obviously had to push back,” McGee added of season three. “We are waiting until it’s safe as there’s a lot of stuff to work out.”
Derry Girls plot
*Contains spoilers for seasons one and two of Derry Girls*
The coming-of-age sitcom revolves around four teenage girls from Derry and one wee English fella in 1990s Northern Ireland during The Troubles.
Written by Being Human screenwriter Lisa McGee and based on her own experiences as a teenager, the show follows 16-year-old Erin and her eccentric friends and family who live in a world of armed police, British Army check points and ‘peace’ walls.
The gang is constantly getting up to mischief, much to the dismay of Erin’s parents and the formidable Sister Michael.
Among the big moments of series one was English kid James joining the gang and Clare’s coming out storyline. Refresh your memory on the action-packed and rather poignant series finale with our Derry Girls season 1, episode 6 recap.
The second series, meanwhile, saw a potential romance begin to blossom between Erin and James, with the latter almost leaving Derry for good, and ended on a positive note with a rousing speech from Bill Clinton taken from his real-life 1995 visit to the city.
Derry Girls season 3 cast
The main Derry Girls cast are all expected to reprise their roles for a third season, including – deep breath – Saoirse-Monica Jackson as Erin Quinn, Louisa Harland as Orla McCool, Nicola Coughlan as Clare Devlin, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell as Michelle Mallon, Dylan Llewellyn as James Maguire, Tara Lynne O’Neill as Ma/Mary, Kathy Kiera Clarke as Aunt Sarah, Siobhan McSweeney as Sister Michael, Tommy Tiernan as Da/Gerry, Ian McElhinney as Granda Joe, Kevin McAleer as Uncle Colm and Leah O’Rourke as Jenny Joyce.
Ardal O’Hanlon made an appearance as Mary’s cousin Eamonn in season two, but it is not yet known if he’ll play a part in season three. Writer McGee told RadioTimes.com she would like to add Dara O Briain, another Irish comedy legend, to the cast for season 3.
Derry Girls season 3 plot rumours
Nicola Coughlan told the Belfast Telegraph that writer Lisa McGee had spoken to her about the upcoming storylines.
Coughlan said: “They’re so brilliant, which doesn’t surprise me. She’s just incredible – but it made me want to do it right now. But we also want to do the best version of the show we can.
“By hell or high water, we all want to make it work – if they said we could go tomorrow, trust me, we would all be there.”
McGee also told RadioTimes.com that the new episodes will be set in a more hopeful period for the gang, as their hometown marches towards peace and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 (where the writer suggested she would like to wrap things up).
In April 2019, she said: “I’m just thinking about storylines at the minute. I have a political back story I want to do. It’s a bit scary but I’ll have to start writing things down soon.
“We’ll continue from ’95 so obviously it was very different for us then, for one thing all these splinter organisations came out of nowhere, which was quite strange, and then people were just getting used to peace time.
“They had more to lose, I think, and we didn’t want it to go wrong because it was something we all really wanted. It was something everyone was afraid to dream of and then it was happening, so it’s scarier in a way, the idea of losing that.”
McGee added that in series three one of the Derry Girls crew might leave for “a rival gang” and the story would explore “how the others try to get them back and deal with that”.
On who the Judas of the group would be, McGee teased that it might be the wee English fella James, which could be interesting given his budding romance with Erin.
Derry Girls season 3 trailer
You can watch the teaser trailer for Derry Girls season three here, in which the gang appears to get arrested.
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Will Erin and James get together in season 3 of Derry Girls?
Despite Erin’s complicity in the Derry Girls’ endless mocking of James, there have been hints throughout seasons one and two that she has a bit of a crush on the English boy. In the first season, she was furious (and perhaps jealous) when a Ukrainian exchange student tried to take James’s virginity, and in the second Erin was thrilled when James turned up to take her to prom after she was stood up by a local hunk.
After the latter Friends-esque scene, there were a lot of people ‘shipping’ Erin and James, willing them to get together. Writer Lisa McGee told RadioTimes.com that there might be a future for the pair romantically.
“I think there might be,” she said. “I’ve always thought James likes her, but I think he maybe doesn’t even understand that yet, and I don’t know when that’ll, it might happen when they’re much older, so it might not actually happen in our show. But I think the potential is there, it’s something I’m interested in seeing – I might toy with it if we do another season, I’m not sure.”
“I want it to happen so badly!” revealed Nicola Coughlan, who plays Clare in the series.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com at the South Bank Show Awards in July, she added: “Yeah I really want it to happen, although it’s so funny because we’re like siblings now, so the thought of Saoirse and Dylan now having to kiss I find hilarious. But for the characters, yeah, I really want it to happen.”
Derry Girls is available to stream on Netflix (season 1) and All4 (season 1 and 2). Looking for something else to watch? Check out our guide to the best series on Netflix and best movies on Netflix, or visit our TV Guide.
