- Film And TV
- 19 Sep 19
A new tearjerker is in the works
In March of 2019, 15 years after the release of her debut novel PS, I Love You, Cecelia Ahern announced that she has written a sequel to the heartbreaking story - and there are already plans to make it into a movie! According to the author, Hilary Swank is more than happy to reprise her role as Holly from the 2007 film.
Cecelia Ahern told Ryan Tubridy on his RTÉ Radio 1 show on Thursday that the Hollywood actress reached out to her after she announced Postscript - the name of the PS, I Love You sequel. "One of the first people to email me when she heard the news was Hilary Swank", the Irish novelist recalls, "She was so excited, she wanted to read the book and she said 'I would love to support you in any way, shape or form'. Then she read the book and she said 'I want to make this movie'."
She added, "We don't have a director or a screenwriter or any of that, nothing's been announced yet, but the movie's happening! I'm delighted."
🚨 I have BIG NEWS! 🚨
I’ve written the sequel to PS I LOVE YOU - titled POSTSCRIPT.
POSTSCRIPT will be published September 19th in the UK & Ireland. I hope you’ll welcome back Holly... & Gerry...& that reading it will be as emotional for you as it was for me. 💙#Postscript pic.twitter.com/ldAqLfFpmv— Cecelia Ahern (@Cecelia_Ahern) March 11, 2019
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However, Ahern also revealed that she was initially reluctant to continue Holly's story. "I said I'd never do it from the beginning. From the moment I wrote PS, I Love You, people were asking if I'd write a sequel and there were so many reasons why I wouldn't", she said, "I had brought the character to exactly where I wanted to bring her, I couldn't see what the story would be. Also just because something's a success doesn't mean you should necessarily write a sequel. And I didn't want the thing that made my career to be the thing that breaks my career!"
A new way of approaching the story then changed her mind, "PS, I Love You was from the perspective of the person who was grieving, the people who are left behind, and I wanted to tell the story from a new perspective, from the people who've been told they're terminally ill or they have life-altering conditions. Postscript is about a group of people who've been inspired by Holly's experience and they ask her to help them write their letters for their loved ones."
The sequel will take place 7 years after the events of the first novel and was released today.