HBO's 'Game of Thrones' will take off this coming Sunday for Memorial Day, but HBO won't exactly shut down, instead airing Ryan Murphy's buzzworthy stage-adapted period drama 'The Normal Heart' in its place. The trailers have all sold us on the star-studded drama chronicling the AIDS outbreak of the '80s, but now HBO has released three brand-new clips to put things over the mark.

Our first sneak peek from 'The Normal Heart' sees something of a meet-cute (if you can call meeting to argue writing an article about AIDS a meet-cute) between Mark Ruffalo's Ned Weeks and Matt Bomer's Felix Turner, while the second brings in Julia Roberts' Dr. Emma Brookner, who tries to get Weeks to spread awareness through the gay community in the first place. Finally, 'True Blood' and 'American Horror Story' vet Denis O'Hare appears as a city representative in the third clip, who downplays the virus' threat to their community.

For those unfamiliar with the film or its stage origins, HBO’s ‘The Normal Heart’ follows ‘The Avengers‘ star Mark Ruffalo as activist Ned Weeks, one of the first to draw attention to New York’s HIV-AIDS epidemic of the ’80s. Based on the Tony-winning Larry Kramer play of the same name, the drama also stars Julia Roberts as Polio survivor and physician Dr. Emma Brookner, ‘White Collar’ vet Matt Bomer, ‘The Big Bang Theory‘ star Jim Parsons reprising his role of activist Tommy Boatwright from the 2011 stage version, as well as Taylor Kitsch.

It'll be interesting to see what the awards community makes of this one come Emmy season, but in the meantime, check out 'The Normal Heart' in the clips above and below, and tell us if you'll tune in for HBO's major drama on May 25!

More From ScreenCrush