Simon Bird says ‘Inbetweeners’ cast are “happy” to reunite – but writers are “very busy”
Simon Bird has said the Inbetweeners cast are “happy” to reunite, but poured cold water on a reunion by saying the writers are “very busy”.
The actor appeared in the much-loved series about a group of teenagers alongside Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrisson from 2008-2010. The show also had two spin-off movies, The Inbetweeners Movie and The Inbetweeners 2 in 2011 and 2014, respectively.
Bird said despite much fan speculation about a possible reunion, there are no plans to do so in the near future.
Speaking to MailOnline, he explained: “I’m afraid to be the one pouring cold water on this but it’s not happening. I can tell you emphatically that there are no prospects of a reunion.”
He continued: “[The cast would] be happy to but it’s not up to us, it’s up to the writers, Iain [Morris] and Damon [Beesley], and I know they’re both very busy these days.
“It’s not more likely to happen now than it was 10 years ago I’m afraid. I think it was a comedy that inhabited a certain time,” he continued. “So, no, there has been no discussion about a new show or film.”
Bird went on to say that while fans frequently quote lines from the show at him, he can’t remember many of them himself.
“I have no idea what they’re talking about,” he added. “I can’t remember the show – I don’t think I’ve even watched it back since I made it in 2008.”
Meanwhile, Joe Thomas recently said he would be up for making a third Inbetweeners movie if the chance came along.
Thomas, who played Simon Cooper in the Channel 4 sitcom and its two film adaptations, confirmed there had been talks about the next steps for the series.
Speaking on the Always Be Comedy podcast, he said: ‘We’re all still around, we’re all still in each other’s lives. We all still like each other. And if it was something that came up, I think we would want to do it.
“I feel like we all still really like each other. We’ve all been able to go away and get various monkeys off our backs, in terms of things that we felt we needed to do other than the Inbetweeners to prove something to ourselves.”
“A movie, I think works with the right idea. It would be challenging to do another series, just because of the timeline. But with the film, there are all sorts of options.
“Also I don’t know where they would place us in terms of age. I think we could play younger, but not that much younger. It would need to be about blokes, I think. And there’s something about the adult world and how much more complicated it is than the world of adolescence.”
His comments come after James Buckley, who played Jay Cartwright in the sitcom, previously said it could never return for a new series, arguing that the characters wouldn’t be able to realistically behave the same way as they did in the original show.
“It was all justified because they were never the heroes,” Buckley said at the time, referring to the antics of the sixth-former friendship group. “They were idiots and they got what they deserved.”
He continued: “That’s why it can’t come back – you can’t have men in their late thirties acting like they’re in sixth form and getting away with that stuff.”
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Elizabeth Aubrey
NME
