Alison Oliver

"Conversations With Friends" star Alison Oliver talks about being cast in the Sally Rooney series and working with Joe Alwyn, Jemima Kirke, and Sasha Lane.

Complicating matters is a mutual flirtation between Melissa and Bobbi and a secret, passionate affair between Nick and Frances. It’s messy and addicting and the kind of role that has the potential to put Oliver in the same conversation as Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal before her (they starred in Netflix’s previous show based on a Rooney book, the successful Normal People). The series follows Frances (Oliver), a 21-year-old college student navigating relationships, life, and career uncertainty. In Conversations With Friends, Hulu’s latest series based on a Sally Rooney book, which is out May 15, Alison Oliver’s character Frances moves quietly through life, surveying every situation and person before making a move.

Conversations With Friends' Alison Oliver opens up about 'generous actor' Joe Alwyn and their 'odd couple' Frances and Nick — exclusive video.

I think she is in love with Bobbi and is settled with Bobbi and is happy with Bobbi. But she can still miss Nick and she can still think about a past relationship,” she explained to Us. “And so when that happens, even if she goes to see him, I think it’ll be a very different Frances that goes to see him because of the change she’s been through since their breakup. “It can go so many ways and I don’t know what happens, but … I think since breaking up with Nick, she’s gone through such a change and a realization of so many things and she’s back with Bobbi. And that breakup with Nick was so kind of rocky and there’s still so much closure I think that she feels she needs to have. I think when they’re kind of left together in a social context, they’re kind of having to negotiate. “I think through that amount of rehearsal and kind of talking about it and trusting the person that you’re acting with and all the people around you, you can really come to those scenes and feel kind of secure and safe. Alwyn was “amazing” to work with, according to Oliver. “He’s such a generous actor and I think I learned so much from watching him work and how he kind of approached his role and prepared for it. She really puts you at ease and she kind of starts to talk about what shapes you want to make to tell the story.”

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The trip from the printed page to the screen has gone a little backwards for Irish author Sally Rooney.

Conversations With Friends stars Alison Oliver & Joe Alwyn chat about the pull their characters feel and the various forms of love in the Hulu series.

And I think I can relate to being an actor and kind of the strangeness of that job, and the weirdness of it and the ups and downs of that. While Melissa and Bobbi flirt with each other openly, Nick and Frances embark on an intense secret affair that is surprising to them both. I think what I took away from it and - hopefully, I wonder if other people will too - is that's actually another way of doing it or of living. It's actually much more fluid and open than that, in lots of ways, and I think it's really refreshing to see a story that just presents you with a world where affairs are happening and people are allowing things to continue and having this open dynamic. And you definitely get from the book that she's very analytical, and she likes to put people in boxes a little bit. She's in a low self-worth place, so I think that's what drives it initially - that fascination that he feels the same about her.