TV Romance
‘Normal People’ 5 Years Later: Did Marianne & Connell End Up Together?
Five years after the premiere of Hulu’s Normal People, the story of Connell and Marianne still feels like a fever dream. Debuting in the early days of the global COVID-19 shutdowns, the indelible series starring Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones became an obsession for romance fans, who were introduced to one of the most iconic and complicated love stories of the 21st century.
Fans of Sally Rooney’s novel, on which the series is based, already knew what awaited them when the series premiered on April 26, 2020. But few could have anticipated the electric, intoxicating, and frankly hot chemistry of Mescal and Edgar-Jones, who have since become stars because of their performances as Connell and Marianne, respectively. Even in the years since the series, the pair have continued to champion its legacy, going as far as organizing and attending a charity screening for fans in 2024.
For those who don’t know the story of Normal People, or who somehow managed to escape the series without it permanently lodging itself in their brains, it follows the highs and lows of the relationship between golden boy Connell and outsider Marianne. In their school days in Ireland, the two experience an on-again, off-again love story for the ages as they deal with their issues, their families, their interests, and the people who used them along the way. It will rip your heart out more than once across 12 episodes, but the bigger question is: Does it mend it by the end? Do Connell and Marianne end up together? Let’s revisit the ending of Normal People!
Enda Bowe / Hulu / Everett Collection
Do Marianne and Connell end up together in Normal People?
The ending of Normal People sure wants you to believe they could end up together. But viewers may have to answer that question for themselves. Let us explain.
After years of falling in and out of a relationship with each other, the final episode sees Marianne and Connell settle into a comfortable, dare we say, normal existence, maybe more than they ever have before. This is extra apparent at Christmastime, when Marianne spends the holiday with Connell’s mother, Lorraine (Sarah Greene), and family. It is one of her chances to see a healthy, happy, and engrossing familial love that she has tragically been deprived of in her own life (she calls it a “proper Christmas”). She is on incredibly shaky ground with her own mother (who doesn’t even say hello when she passes her daughter on the street), and her history with her abusive brother has been detailed extensively in previous episodes. But this joyous holiday helps Marianne and Connell see what’s possible in the future.
That is, until he is offered an incredible opportunity to study abroad in New York City for a year in an MFA creative writing program. Prior to this point in the series, divergent paths like this have proven to be detrimental to Marianne and Connell’s relationship. He outright rejects the idea of being so far from home, still recovering from his own volatile emotions. However, with some maturity and clarity, she encourages him to accept it. However, she won’t be joining him. She has found peace in her life in Dublin, and she doesn’t want to uproot it. “I want to live the life I’m living, it’s quite a thing and I’m getting better at it,” she tells him.
He wrestles with leaving her and even says he will be back in a year, but she asks him not to promise that. They don’t know what will happen in that year, and can’t promise anything. He says he wouldn’t be here without her, which she pushes back on, saying, “We have done so much good for one another.”
He will never love anyone else like he loves her, and with that they agree. “I’ll go,” he says. “And I’ll stay, and we’ll be OK,” she adds. Fade to black, and everyone watching at home to digest, process, scream, and relish this beautiful story.
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What Happens in the Normal People book?
Hulu’s adaptation hues pretty close to Rooney’s story in the end. A few major moments include the kiss Connell and Marianne share in the bar on New Year’s Eve, when she says “I love you, too,” the only time she returns his many professions of love in the series. The series version of the Marianne character is far more content and secure in her life by the end of the episodes, giving her encouragement for Connell to go to New York and leave her behind more credibility.
Even the scene where he reveals the offer to her in the series is more supportive and less inquisitive about who exactly pushed him to do this. Instead, she calls the opportunity “brilliant” and is the one who brings it back up to him in the final scene. Her final words and emotions, played out in Edgar-Jones’ face, are much more detailed and expressive than her book counterpart. It makes the climactic scene even more poignant and romantic, despite these two parting ways yet again.
Will there be a Normal People Season 2?
Talking about a second season of Normal People is a traumatic subject for fans. For one, it’s been less than a year since Mescal and Edgar-Jones’ tease about the eventual charity screening had fans reeling that it could possibly be about new episodes. Sadly, even they admit it was a bit cruel to leave us hanging like that. “We are incredibly sorry if we led people on, it’s not a Season 2,” they said on Instagram.
But Mescal has said in the past, specifically to GQ in 2022, that he is open to Season 2, even though there has been no movement on it happening. “There’s been no conversation other than the fact that I would like to lead from the front and make it happen somehow,” he told the magazine. “I’m very pro-Season 2, but honestly, there’s no plans in place for that to happen.”
Similarly, following the 2024 charity reunion, Edgar-Jones told ET that nothing was in the works, even though the series continues to be an important piece of her career. “There is no Season 2 that I know of. It was really special. I love those characters and that world. I would love to revisit where they are 10 years later.”
In other words, fans can only hope that the increasingly busy Mescal and Edgar-Jones find time to pencil in more of Connell and Marianne’s story sometime in the next decade.
Do you think Marianne and Connell are endgame? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Normal People, Streaming Now, Hulu
