The Inbetweeners 3 Begins Filming for Netflix With Original Four Back

The Inbetweeners 3 Netflix filming is officially under way in the UK, with all four original lead actors reunited for a new feature film. Netflix confirmed on 7 September that Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison and Joe Thomas are back as Will McKenzie, Jay Cartwright, Neil Sutherland and Simon Cooper, bringing the foursome together on screen for the first time in a new story since 2014.

The announcement ends the uncertainty around who would actually lead the long-discussed return. Rather than recasting the central characters or building a spin-off around a new group, the new film is continuing the story of the original friends as adults.

Original creators are writing and directing

There is another significant piece of continuity behind the camera. Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, who created the Channel 4 sitcom, are returning to write and direct the film themselves.

Netflix has not yet revealed the plot, so there is no confirmed information about where Will, Simon, Jay and Neil are in their lives or what brings them back together. That is an important distinction from some of the speculation that has surrounded the project. For now, the confirmed story is simply that production has begun and the original creative team and four leads are involved.

A short announcement video does, however, deliberately reconnect the new film with the programme audiences remember. The four characters are shown getting back into Simon’s yellow Fiat Cinquecento, with the number three marked on the rear window. It is a knowingly familiar image rather than a plot reveal.

A major British comedy returning through Netflix

The Inbetweeners originally ran for three series on Channel 4 between 2008 and 2010. Its combination of painfully awkward friendships, school life and spectacularly misguided teenage confidence became one of the defining British comedies of its period.

The television series was followed by two Film4-backed cinema releases in 2011 and 2014. Netflix says the first film set a record at the time for the biggest opening weekend for a UK comedy, while Screen Daily reports UK and Ireland grosses of £45 million for the first film and £33.4 million for the sequel.

That history makes the move to Netflix particularly notable. The franchise grew out of British linear television, made a successful transition to cinemas and is now returning as a feature for a global streaming platform. Film4 is still involved in the production, providing another link to the previous films.

Who is making The Inbetweeners 3?

Claire Jones is producing the film alongside Banijay’s Patrick Holland and Fudge Park Productions’ Mark Lesbirel. The executive producer team includes Caroline Levy, Caroline Leddy, Phil Gilbert, Suzanne Knight, Tom Jordan, Film4’s Farhana Bhula, Morris and Beesley.

The creators said they had enjoyed spending time with their friends again and promised to work hard on the new film. Beyond that deliberately playful statement, Netflix is keeping most details back.

No complete supporting cast has been announced, and reports about other former characters potentially returning should therefore be treated as unconfirmed unless Netflix or the production formally adds them to the cast. There is also no confirmed release date in Netflix’s announcement.

What happens next?

The most substantial news is that this is no longer merely a reunion being discussed: cameras are rolling. Screen Daily independently confirmed that production began in the UK on 7 September, matching Netflix’s announcement.

For a comedy so closely associated with a particular stage of its characters’ lives, the challenge will be finding what is funny about them now without simply recreating teenage stories with older actors. With Beesley and Morris writing and directing, that question is at least being handled by the people who established the characters in the first place.

Until Netflix reveals the story, anything more specific would be guesswork. What is confirmed is enough to make this a sizeable piece of UK entertainment news: The Inbetweeners is officially back, the original four are together again, and the third film is now being made.

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