One of 2024’s best Irish thriller shows gets hopeful season 2 update

EXCLUSIVE: The series' co-creator spoke to JOE about the plans for a second season.

Commissioned by both TG4 and BBC Northern Ireland, the six-part show, whose title means 'anguish' or 'torment' in Irish, was set in the remote northwest of Ireland.

It followed Garda Conall Ó Súilleabháin (Dónall Ó Héalaí, Arracht) as he searched for justice in the most personal of cases - the murder of his own mother.

This was in the wake of her body being discovered 15 years after her disappearance.

While it was unclear whether the series would be getting a second season, its co-creator Richie Conroy told JOE that this is the plan.

He made the comments during an interview about Fran the Man, his new sports comedy, which is in cinemas now.

When asked about the runaway success of Crá, he told us: "It was beautiful... That was a relatively low-budget TG4 Irish language drama. But it did, as you say, resonate with audiences in the UK [through the BBC]. It's been sold in America, France, different territories.

"I was listening to a podcast the other day, and it was a writer talking about [how], especially for TV, it's really nice to go to somewhere where you want to spend a bit of time. And Donegal, the west coast of Ireland, it's just breathtaking, you know? And it's kind of underused, the whole west coast has been sort of underused.

"I mean, American movies might come in and do a kind of 'eye-diddley-eye' film out there, but actually telling a true story that's rooted in the Gaeltacht hasn't been done that much."

It was then that Conroy made the comments about season two, adding: "I think audiences really responded to the location and also the character, Conall, played by Dónall Ó Héalai. He's a fantastic actor. He's just brilliant and he's just off filming in America.

"We're going to hopefully do a second series of Crá but we don't want to lose Dónall to Hollywood because I think that's going to end up happening.

"But the character, the idea of a cop who's spent his whole life, his whole career turning a blind eye and then finally [realises]: 'This is something I have to look into and it's going to cause repercussions across the community.' - with Crá, we didn't rely on too many special effects or murders or anything. It was just slow, methodical storytelling with good actors. I think that's why it's resonated."

Following up about a potential season two, JOE asked if Conroy had a story in mind and if he thinks a follow-up would see Conall investigating another crime.

In response, he said:

"I think that's possibly what's going to happen, yeah. I definitely think we'll follow Conall's character.

"Without any spoilers, he was on a quest for an answer of who killed his mother and got the answer at the end of that series.

"What do you do with your life once you've figured out the one thing that you've been tormented by for 15 years? How do you restart your life? Is he still a cop? These kinds of questions are sort of in the melting pot at the moment."

The first season of Crá is streaming on the TG4 Player now.