Marian Keyes’ Beloved Novel Is Getting The Netflix Treatment
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4 hours ago
Filming for Grown Ups is underway in Dublin
From Bad Sisters to The Dry, Kin to Derry Girls, we love a juicy Irish family dramedy – so we were thrilled to hear Marian Keyes’ 2020 tome Grown Ups is getting the TV treatment. With a star-studded Irish cast you will recognise from the likes of Bad Sisters and Line of Duty, here’s everything we know so far.
Marian Keyes fan? The author will appear in conversation with Elizabeth Day at Chelsea Arts Festival later this month. Find out more here.
Grown Ups: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More
From See-Saw Films – the production company behind Slow Horses, Heartstopper and Sweetpea – an eight-part adaptation of Marian Keyes’ 600+ page 2020 novel Grown Ups is in the works, with filming officially underway in Dublin. It was written by Samantha Strauss (who recently penned Apple Cider Vinegar), with Keyes on board as an executive producer.
‘I know I’m not alone in being obsessed with every word Marian Keyes has ever written, and it is a true life highlight to be trusted with her characters as we bring the Casey family and the world of Grown Ups to Netflix,’ Strauss says. ‘James Griffiths, our set up director is already crafting something beautiful and very human. I am pinching myself to be in the company of our preposterously glorious cast and our fantastic crew as we shoot here in sunny Ireland.’
Keyes first teased the project in an Instagram post last year. ‘I’ve exciting news,’ the author wrote with six exclamation marks. ‘Seesaw Productions and Netflix are adapting Grown Ups (a book I wrote) for the telly.
‘It’ll be eight episodes, each an hour long,’ Keyes added. ‘It’ll be shot in Ireland and I’m already driving everyone mad with “who will play Ferdia?!”.’
Irish radiohost Keyes is the internationally bestselling author of 16 novels. ‘The filming of Grown Ups has begun in Dublin and it feels like a succession of dreams come true,’ Keyes says now. She recalls her initial Zoom meeting with Strauss on 15 October 2020, ‘at the height of Covid’, when Strauss was working on adapting Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers in Australia. ‘I was closeted in my Dublin bedroom, once again in lockdown,’ Keyes remembers. ‘Sam had optioned the book (Grown Ups) six months earlier but this was our first time to speak; our emotional and creative connection was immediate. Her questions were relevant and intelligent and she was adamant that the show needed to be shot in Ireland.
‘Countless books are optioned and very few ever make it to the screen,’ Keyes adds. ‘I’ve been there many times. Funding is usually the biggest challenge. But from that first conversation I believed Sam and I trusted her. Then Netflix came on board and again it was so easy to like and trust the people involved. For a long time the only people I met related to this production were women.
‘Then casting began and it was above and beyond my wildest dreams: what an incredibly talented group of people,’ Keyes adds. ‘Likewise the two directors and the hardworking crew.
Being part of this, seeing it all come together has been so exciting and so much fun. I’m honoured by the hard work and commitment of everyone involved, I’m beyond grateful for all the care that’s been taken with my characters and most of all, I’m enormously proud.’
What Will Happen?
The synopsis from Netflix is slightly different to the blurb on Keyes book, which centres on the Casey family helmed by a trio of brothers: Johnny, Ed and Liam. Wealthy and indulgent, every family gathering becomes a party, some people clash and others seem to like each other a bit too much. Everything is tentatively under control – until Ed’s wife Cara gets a concussion and can’t keep her thoughts to herself anymore. One ill-advised remark, and the whole Jenga tower comes tumbling down.
In the Netflix adaptation, we will still be focussing on the Casey clan, ‘a noisy tight-knit Irish family, who are bound together by a tangled web of loyalty, resentment, money, memory and love’. But instead of a concussion we’re told it is an unexpected death – ‘the rock of the family, the “good son”’ – that sets off the emotional reckoning. Plus while the novel centres on three brothers, it seems the TV adaptation of Grown Ups will centre on two brothers and a sister: Johnny (Barry Ward), Liam (Robert Sheehan) and Ed (Karin Hanczewski).
Set over eight episodes (directed by James Griffiths and Ciaran Donnelly) and the course of a year, we’re told the Caseys will fall in and out of love, confront old wounds and create new ones. Grief will be at the core of the series – but so will the tiring, relentless and often ridiculous struggles that are part and parcel of being an adult. Indeed, despite their age and responsibilities, the Caseys are far from grown up.
‘Lifting the Casey family from the enchanting and beloved pages of Marian’s novel is no mean feat,’ says Netflix’s Manda Levin on behalf of the streamer. ‘But the thoughtful, subtle team at See-Saw have built a dream team with which to do it, and the creative synchronicity between Marian and our glorious showrunner, Sam Strauss, has been something to behold. We are giddy, now we are starting to see this best-in-class cast bring to life the characters our audience will laugh with, love with, and cry with.’
Sarah Greene in “Bad Sisters,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
The Cast
Leading the way as Jessie is Bad Sisters alum Sarah Greene, who reunites with her co-star Barry Ward as husband Johnny to complete the power couple at the head of the Casey family.
Misfits and Umbrella Academy star Robert Sheehan will take up the role of Johnny’s brother Liam, joined by comedian Aisling Bea as his wife Cara.
A slew of Irish stars round out the cast, including Adrian Dunbar, Sinéad Cusack and newcomers James Agnew and Katelyn Rose Downey. YOU star Amy-Leigh Hickman is the honorary Brit.
The full cast list we know so far is as follows:
- Sarah Greene as Jessie
- Barry Ward as Johnny
- Aisling Bea as Cara
- Robert Sheehan as Liam
- Amy-Leigh Hickman as Nell
- Adrian Dunbar as Canice
- Sinéad Cusack as Rose
- Karin Hanczewski as Ed
- James Agnew as Ferdia
- Katelyn Rose Downey as Saoirse
Release Date
No firm news just yet, but we expect Grown Ups to launch in the latter half of 2026. The series will be made up of eight episodes.
An Afternoon With Elizabeth Day & Marian Keyes
Join bestselling authors Elizabeth Day and Marian Keyes at Chelsea Arts Festival, where Day will be launching her brand new novel One of Us.
2–4pm, Sunday 21 September 2025 at Cadogan Hall (5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ).
Tickets from £34.99pp including a hardback copy of One of Us.
