Will there be a Derry Girls spin-off? What the cast have said about a Sister Michael series or a 1970s prequel

Four years since it began, Derry Girls is coming to an end. Fans of the show are understandably upset, with many already clamouring for a spinoff series to keep the show going in some way or another.

Derry Girls’ creator Lisa McGee has been quite open that there won’t be a spinoff, or at least not anytime soon. “I wouldn’t do a spin-off now, and I have no plans to do a spin-off,” McGee told DigitalSpy recently, explaining that she wanted to focus on other original projects for a while after finishing Derry Girls.

So, while that’s pretty conclusive, there’s probably still a part of you that’s at least wondering about what a Derry Girls’ spinoff might look like – so here’s everything the cast and crew have said about that possibility.

Will there be a 1970s flashback spinoff?

Derry Girls season 3 flashed back to the 1970s with a special episode focused on younger versions of the parents – and it seemed like the perfect basis for a spinoff. What better way to replicate the style and sensibility of Derry Girls while moving it to a new setting than a prequel series?

Dearbháile McKinney, who starred in that episode as the young Aunt Sarah, recently told NationalWorld that she’d “100%” be interested in a spinoff.

“Lisa just does such a wonderful job of this one episode that 100% I would say yes,” said Dearbháile. “I had such an amazing time, and a great experience working with the cast as well […] That’d be amazing to be able to work together again.”

Will there be a Jenny Joyce spinoff?

Maybe a slightly less than obvious choice, but it’s one series creator Lisa McGee suggested to DigitalSpy recently.

“Jenny thinks she’s in a different show. Jenny’s in an American high school. She’s like Beverly Hills, not Derry Girls, and I just love her energy,” McGee explained. “I mean, it’s very annoying, but I love how she’s a character that changes the direction of the story, and they’re rare.”

“I like the idea of her maybe being in a neighbourhood watch or something where she thinks she’s doing the right thing, but actually everyone just hates her.”

Will there be a Sister Michael spinoff?

Siobhán McSweeney’s Sister Michael was, almost immediately, a fan-favourite. Most discussion of a spinoff centres on her, with Dylan Llewellyn (who plays James) recently suggesting a spinoff called “Derry Nuns”.

Back in 2019 – that’s how long people have been calling for a Sister Michael spinoff – McSweeney suggested she was dubious about the idea.

Speaking on The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show, McSweeney posited that Sister Michael works better as part of an ensemble rather than as the lead of her own show.

“I don’t see it. I think she, like everybody, every character, exists so fully and truly in that particular environment,” said McSweeney. “Where would she travel to? I think she’s very much a character of her situation.”

Will there be a spinoff about the parents?

Another suggestion from Lisa McGee, who clearly has lots of ideas for spinoffs even if she’s absolutely definitely for sure probably not going to do any of them.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, McGee said she wanted to do “a spin-off with Ma Mary and Aunt Sarah solving crime and setting up a detective agency in Derry. Wouldn’t that be incredible?”

“They’re so amazing in this series as the two sisters and I just thought it would be great to know what they get up to in secret, so I have this theory that they run about the town running this detective agency.”

“Maybe the girls could have cameos too,” she continued. “They could be their spies about the city.”

Tara Lynne O’Neill, who plays Ma Mary, has also suggested a spinoff focused on the parents.

“I was trying to get Lisa to do a spin-off called ‘Derry Auld Ones’,” said O’Neill to JOE in 2020. “Obviously, the younger characters will all go off to university and all the auld ones are left back home.”

“That’s when we have our fun! Just Ma Mary, Granda Joe, Gerry, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Colm, just sitting there, having tea and watching London’s Burning!”

What about a Derry Girls sequel?

Again, probably not any time soon, but some of the cast have already been speculating about what their characters might be up to in a few years’ time.

Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, who plays Michelle, suggested to the Belfast Telegraph that “Michelle would work in a bookies and then end up owning a chain of them, like an absolute boss. She would work to the max.”

“She would still be friends with the girls. They’re besties and they’ll be friends for life. There will be more shenanigans. These sorts of people don’t just go through life being normal with no madness.”

Meanwhile, Saoirse-Monica Jackson recently spoke to the Radio Times about what she thought Erin might be like in the future. “"I think Erin is extremely spoiled and extremely sheltered by her parents and I think that even the relationship that she has with Orla (Louisa Harland) she takes for granted a lot of the time.”

"When she’s lost that innocence and she knows that truth and that heart that Orla gives her, she loses the direction that Michelle gives her at all times to stick up for herself, or the sense of reason that Claire gives her if she’s had a bit of time away," she pondered, “what would that be like? What would that journey look like, coming back and revisiting them?"

As Jamie-Lee O’Donnell said, though, “Lisa McGee has developed these characters to the point where you could do a million spin-offs, you could do a million prequels” – so even if it’s ending now, Derry Girls is absolutely a show that could still return one day.

Derry Girls’ final episode will air on Channel 4 on Wednesday 18 May at 9pm.