Normal People writer Sally Rooney reveals what happens to Marianne and Connell after first series’ finale
NORMAL People writer Sally Rooney has revealed what happens to Marianne and Connell after the first series’ finale.
Almost 30 million viewers have become obsessed with the fictional couple, played by Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, in the BBC adaptation of Sally’s hit novel.
*Spoilers ahead for the ending of Normal People*
The on-off couple fell in love with each other in sixth form and the series follows the orbit of their relationship with them coming together before splitting and dating other people over the years.
The series ended with Connell moving to New York for a graduate writer’s programme while Marianne stays in Ireland.
Viewers were left desperate to know if the love struck couple would reunite once more, especially after reaching a good place in their romance following numerous bad relationships for each of them.
While Sally hasn’t written a sequel, she first wrote about Connell and Marianne in a short story set after they graduated called At the Clinic.
The story – which was first published in The White Review in 2016 – inspired Sally to go back and explore their relationship from the very beginning, with the end result being the highly acclaimed Normal People.
In At the Clinic, Marianne and Connell are both 23 and he is driving her to the dentist.
They are still verbally sparring with each other, still in love with each other and still sleeping together in between their equally dead-end relationships.
In short, nothing has changed for the pair and that should offer some comfort to viewers who are desperate for their love story not to be over.
Most Read in TV & Showbiz
Indeed, actor Paul has revealed his hopes that things aren’t over for the couple.
He told Bustle: “I can’t cope with the idea of them not being together. I’m not entertaining that possibility.
“In the back of my head I know there is a world in which they aren’t together, but that’s not a world in which I want to live.
“So they are together, they are happily married, and they have like 42 children, all of whom are incredibly bright.”
Normal People is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.