Derry Girls writer reveals James may join a rival gang in series three

But now the writer of the Bafta-nominated sitcom has revealed that although James isn’t leaving Northern Ireland, he could be ditching the Derry Girls for a rival gang in series three.

• Derry Girls renewed for series three
• Derry Girls star Dylan Llewellyn: I didn’t understand any Northern Irish slang – but learning it was cool
• Listen to the RadioTimes.com Podcast now: subscribe on iTunes / subscribe on Google Podcasts

Speaking about her plans for a third series, Lisa McGee told RadioTimes.com at the BFI & Radio Times Festival: “I was thinking about maybe one of them joining another gang, a rival gang, and how the others try to get them back and deal with that.”

Who could be the Judas breaking away from the group? “I think James, maybe,” McGee teased.

James hasn’t exactly been welcomed into the gang with open arms since the day he arrived as the only English kid in the school for girls, and he finds it pretty hard to keep up with all the slang – so it’s wouldn't be the biggest shock if he became the one to split off.

But there was a very touching moment between him and his cousin Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) in the series two finale, where after a lot of tough love and teasing, Michelle finally showed her vulnerable side and asked James to stay.

McGee – who in a recent interview revealed there also might be more to explore with James and Erin’s (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) budding romance – added: “I’m just thinking about storylines at the minute. I have a political back story I want to do. It’s a bit scary but I’ll have to start writing things down soon.

“We’ll continue from ’95 so obviously it was very different for us then: for one thing all these splinter organisations came out of nowhere, which was quite strange, and then people were just getting used to peace time.

“They had more to lose, I think, and we didn’t want it to go wrong because it was something we all really wanted. It was something everyone was afraid to dream of and then it was happening, so it's scarier in a way, the idea of losing that.”