‘Big Little Lies’ adds Streep in new season
PASADENA (AP) — Meryl Streep’s self-proclaimed addiction to “Big Little Lies” had the bonus of turning the Oscar-winning actress into a star of the HBO drama’s second season.
“I loved this show. I was addicted to it. I thought it was an amazing exercise in what we know and don’t know about people — about family, about friends, about how we flirted with the mystery of things,” Streep said on Friday. “I wanted to do it to be in that world. The world they created was amazing.”
In the seven-episode season beginning in June, Streep will play Mary Louise Wright, mother-in-law to Nicole Kidman’s Celeste, whose abusive husband Perry died at the end of season one.
David Kelley, who wrote both seasons, joked that the much-acclaimed Streep had to pass muster to get the role.
“We looked at Meryl’s demo reel,” Kelley told a TV critics meeting. He noted that the character of Mary Louise was created by Liane Moriarty, whose novel “Big Little Lies” was adapted for the original season.