Normal People to return for two special episodes set 40 years in the future

Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones are reuniting for the new shorts

Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones are reuniting for two new special episodes of Normal People set 40 years in the future.

The shorts will also see the return of director Lenny Abrahamson, and will air as part of RTÉ Does Comic Relief on Friday 26 June.

Richard Curtis, the co-founder of Comic Relief told RTÉ Radio 1: “There’s a beautiful piece called Normal Older People, which is imagining what would have happened to Marianne and Connell 40 years from now.

“I promise you, these are two very special bits. It’s so much better than anything we’ve ever made. I mean, I can’t even say all about it, because there’s a guest star in it. But it’s really, really beautiful.”

Given that the specials are being broadcast on RTÉ, only viewers in Ireland and Northern Ireland will be able to watch them live as they air. It has not yet been revealed whether they will be made available to viewers in the rest of the UK.

Based on a novel by Sally Rooney, Normal People debuted to UK viewers in April. It starred Mescal and Edgar-Jones as two Irish teenagers from very different backgrounds who fall in love.

The series was awarded five stars by The Independent’s critic Ed Cumming, who called the young stars “unassailable” and deemed the adaptation “pitch-perfect”.