EXCLUSIVE: Derry Girls star Louisa Harland is leading RTÉ’s adaptation of Marian Keyes’ The Walsh Sisters, which has unveiled cast including Debi Mazar.
Harland will play the troubled Anna Walsh and is joined by BAFTA nominee Máiréad Tyers, who led Disney+’s Extraordinary and has been cast as Helen. Making up the rest of the Walsh family are Stefanie Preissner, who plays Maggie and is also writing most of the show, Danielle Galligan (House of Guinness) bringing oldest sister Claire to life and rising talent Caroline Menton, who takes on party-girl sister Rachel.
Adding a dose of Hollywood to the line-up is Mazar, who plays Chaquie and is coming off the back of her starring role as Medusa in Netflix’s Kaos. Past credits include Entourage, Goodfellas and Little Man Tate. She is joined by Irish American actor Aidan Quinn (This is My Father). Quinn has been tapped to play put-upon Jack ‘Daddy’ Walsh alongside his screen wife Carrie Crowley (An Cailín Ciúin), who recreates eccentric Mammy Walsh.
The adaptation is an RTÉ drama series that has been acquired by the BBC. Billed as a “comedy about serious things” and premiering in the Fall, The Walsh Sisters is set in Dublin. It follows the sisters as they navigate the peaks and troughs of their late 20s and 30s with in-jokes, hand-me-down resentments and a few old wounds, but their DNA, history and a shared love of power ballads keep them together in the face of heartbreak, grief, addiction and parenthood. The series is in part based on two of Keyes’ books, the novels Rachel’s Holiday and Anybody Out There.
Harland broke out as Orla McCool in smash Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls and has since played the titular character in Sally Wainwright’s Disney+ series Renegade Nell. Tyers led another Disney+ show, Extraordinary, over two seasons. Other cast members include Gina Moxley who will play Josephine (The Patient Gloria, Here Before) and Jay Duffy (Wheel of Time, Northern Lights) who will play Rachel’s complicated love interest Luke. Samuel Anderson (Amandaland) has also been cast as Aidan – Anna’s love interest.
Harland said: “Couldn’t be happier to be part of the Walsh family. These books mean so much to so many. It’s the dream job.”
The first season of The Walsh Sisters, which rolls into production this month, is directed by Ian FitzGibbon, (Hullraisers, Moone Boy). The comedy drama is produced by award-winning indies Cuba Pictures and Metropolitan Pictures with producer Patrick O’Donoghue (The Tourist, Brooklyn, The Wonder) in association with the BBC, Screen Ireland and Cineflix Rights as the exclusive worldwide distribution partner.
Dublin-based Preissner, who created RTÉ’s groundbreaking comedy drama Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, is entrusted with the adaptation of Keyes’ much-loved books. As the creative lead and writer across the series, Preissner is joined by Kefi Chadwick (Rivals; Death in Paradise) writing two episodes. EPs are RTÉ’s head of drama David Crean and director of co-productions and acquisitions Dermot Horan; Cuba Pictures’ joint CEOs Dixie Linder and Nick Marston; Metropolitan Pictures producer and joint CEO David McLoughlin; Cineflix Rights’ James Durie and Tom Misselbrook; Preissner, Keyes and Tony Baines.
