Phoebe Dynevor Will Star in a Very Millennial Queer Love Triangle Series
Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor will take a short break from traversing the romantic dramas of the Regency generation, and instead explore those of the millennial generation. She’s set to both star in and executive produce an adaptation of Naoise Dolan’s novel Exciting Times for Amazon. Because of the author’s Irish provenance and matter-of-fact take on millennial anxiety, it’s been compared to the work of Sally Rooney (Normal People), though this tale comes with a queer twist.
Dynevor will star as Ava, a 22-year-old Irish woman who takes a job teaching English in Hong Kong, but soon finds herself entangled with two lovers. She’s not sure if she wants to be with them or be them—or at least wants their salaries (In a fictional alternative universe, a dead-eyed Rachel from The White Lotus is reading this news in Shane’s penthouse apartment and thinking, “Interesting ...interesting”). The first is Julian, a tony British banker lad with the right upbringing and the right amount of commas in his paycheck. Though, eventually, Ava finds herself entangled, too, with Edith, a high-powered lawyer and daughter of a powerful Hong Kong family who isn’t out to them.
The novel explores themes of love, money, cultural clashes, and, in a very millennial addition, Ava’s weird, strained relationship with how she presents herself over e-mail and on social media. The novel is set in the mid-2010s (in case you’re wondering how Ava is a 22-year-old millennial).
Dolan herself will return to write the series, while buzzy young filmmaker Cooper Raiff will direct the first episode.
Dynevor finds herself increasingly busy after her breakout in Bridgerton. She’s currently filming season 2, has filmed the movie The Colour Room, will appear in the upcoming English adaptation of French comedy series Call My Agent!, and is attached to the true-crime podcast thriller I Heart Murder. It’s so much that Lady Whistledown can barely keep up with all the projects she has on her plate, though she is probably still hung up trying to figure out what the phrases “bisexual,” “social media,” and “millennial anxiety” mean.
