The book-to-screen adaptation, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal, drops April 29.
Normal People, Hulu's upcoming series based on the beloved novel, may be the next epic love story.
Based on Sally Rooney’s 2018 best-selling book (one of Barack Obama's personal picks of 2019), is a modern love story set in Ireland between schoolmates-turned-unlikely lovers, Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (newcomer Paul Mescal), whose complicated relationship spans several years.
As they embark on an on-again/off-again romance that begins at secondary school and continues through university, both test their relationship as they explore different versions of themselves.
The 12-episode, half-hour drama premieres Friday, April 29, Hulu announced Tuesday, along with a brand new trailer, which offers a far more intense look at Marianne and Connell's star-crossed romance. Watch below.
Earlier this year ET sat down with the 29-year-old Rooney, who played a crucial role in adapting her own book for the screen, and serves as one of the series' executive producers. The author spoke about what made Edgar-Jones and Mescal the perfect picks for the coveted literary roles of Marianne and Connell.
"For me it was seeing them in their audition tapes say these lines -- not even say the lines, before they even said the lines, it was just physically inhabiting this role and being Connell or being Marianne," Rooney said. "And even just moving their eyes around or moving their hands and then saying a word or two. It doesn't have to be a really significant line drenched in emotional weight, just a throwaway remark. And you begin to get a sense of like, 'Oh yeah, this person can actually inhabit the reality of who this character is on a mundane.'"
"They can be Connell or be Marianne just while sitting in a chair or listening to a teacher or at a lecture taking notes. That the emotional thread of the character runs through every gesture and not just the big, dramatic emotions, of which I feel like there are relatively few. It's not an operatic book or show. So, the most important thing was that in every moment they needed to be able to inhabit that reality -- even in the very quiet periods, to still feel like that emotional intensity was there. That's what they brought."
Normal People premieres Wednesday, April 29 on Hulu.
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