Father Dougal McGuire The writers have said that the only other actor they feel might have worked in the role is Don Wycherley, who plays Dougal's Rugged Island counterpart, Father Cyril McDuff, in the show. There have been several attempts to remake the show for American audiences. In 2004, it was reported that Graham Norton (who played Father Noel Furlong in "Father Ted") had signed on to play Dougal alongside Steve Martin as Ted. No remake has yet entered production. References to Dougal's family are rare. In "Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest", he mentions that his parents are dead, and also refers to
Father Ted draw inspiration from "The Book of Mormon", and would "go for the jugular ... you get all the things people loved about it, all the innocence and all the sweetness, but introduce a harder edge". Linehan also said that, being a special event, the musical would need to focus on a "world-shaking" story, possibly with Ted becoming Pope due to "some weird succession thing". In June, Linehan said that he hoped The Divine Comedy frontman Neil Hannon, who wrote the show's music, would return to compose the songs. In June 2018, Linehan announced that "Pope Ted: The Father Ted Musical"