How ‘Big Little Lies’ Season 2 Wooed Mega-Star Meryl Streep

HBO announced at Winter 2019 TCA today that Season 2 ofBig Little Lies will be premiering in June 2019. The show’s A-list cast, including Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kazan, and Meryl Streep, were all in attendance to talk about what brought them back and who pays when they all go out together. (Hint: it’s Reece Witherspoon, but Streep managed to pay the bill once.)

Star and Executive Producer said that one of the things that sold her on coming back for an unplanned second season was the hunger of the audience. “I’ve never been in something that reached so far globally and that was such a compelling idea in terms of putting it together,” Kidman said. “but it was very much generated by the actual audiences.”

Someone who was in that audience? Meryl Streep.

“I loved this show. I was addicted to it. I thought it was an amazing exercise in what we know and what we don’t know about people…how it flirted with the mystery of things,” Streep said.

Season 2 of Big Little Lies picks up in the year after the violent events of trivia night, where rampant abuser and rapist Perry (Alexander Skarsgard) was killed in a harrowing event only witnessed by the show’s five leading ladies. Streep arrives in the new season as Perry’s grieving mother, Mary Louise.

As it turns out, Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty — whom Witherspoon said wrote “almost a novella” for them to plot out this season — purposely gave the character Streep’s real birth name as a way to woo her to the project. Streep revealed today that she thought it was merely a coincidence, which cause the panel, particularly Kidman to laugh, “You didn’t know?!?”

When asked how their characters would get along, Streep said, “So the dynamic between Celeste and me? I mean…”

“You love me,” Kidman said.

“I do love her,” Streep said, “and that’s the only thing I’ll tell you about my character.”

However, later Streep said that one of the things that drew her to the project was also the opportunity to examine one’s own failings and imperfections as a parent. “It felt real, honest,” Streep said.

What else did we learn about the new season? Well, Season 2 will eschew the “Greek chorus” that broke up the narrative storytelling in Season 1. Kelley said it had begun to feel extraneous as early as Episodes 2 or 3 in Season 1, and now the focus is just on the narrative. This new season has a new director, Andrea Arnold. While Kidman said there was a difference in Arnold’s approach since she had a “female gaze,” Kelley said it wouldn’t make too much of a difference in the show’s tone. He explained both Season 1 director Jean-Marc Vallee and Arnold had something in common: “You feel like they’re jumping into the trench with your characters and really being raw and honest with the approach to the emotion.”

In footage screened for critics, we learned that the five lead characters — Madeline Martha Mackenzie, Celeste Wright, Jane Chapman, Bonnie Carlson, and Renata Klein — have a new nickname in town, “the Monterey Five.” It sounds like one character is more excited to be in the squad than the others.

“It’s thrilling for Renata to have any friend!” Laura Dern said.

“It’s so cute,” Reese Witherspoon said. “Dern’s character is so excited she has girlfriends!”

Though it sounds like Renata doesn’t quite know how to be a good girlfriend, even if she is enthusiastic about the prospects.

And will there be a Season 3? Kelley said, “There’s no such plan now…we like where our closure is at the end of Season 2.”

To which Reese Witherspoon quipped, “We sat there and said that last time, David.”

“There’s no plan,” Kidman said, explaining they worked long and hard on this season.

Big Little Lies Season 2 will arrive on HBO in June 2019. 

Where to stream Big Little Lies