BIG LITTLE LIES
Why they decided to do a second series after all
“There is no way; there’s no reason to make a Season 2”. The words of director Jean-marc Vallée back in the summer of 2017 just after the extraordinary finale of his seven-part drama aired on HBO. He went on to say, “That was meant to be a one-time deal. If we do a season two, we’ll break that beautiful thing and spoil it”. Yet not only is season two of Big Little Lies on its way, it’s also getting a Meryl Streep/andrea Arnold upgrade. Streep joins the main cast as the mother of abusive husband Perry (Alexander Skarsgård), and singular British film-maker Arnold (American Honey) takes over from Vallée in the director’s chair.
Big Little Lies was always supposed to be a limited series, rather than a returning one. It was after all based on a bestselling novel by Liane Moriarty which had no sequel. Yet as soon as the ecstatic reviews for its unflinching portrayal of the darkness beneath its glossy Californian veneer started pouring in, followed by the 16 Emmy nominations, HBO had to find a way to renew the show. They wisely started with the Liane Moriarty and persuaded her to come up with her own new story following up the lives of the existing core gang of women, played by Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley and Zoë Kravitz, after the life-changing event at the climax of the first series. David E. Kelley also returns to write all seven episodes, with Arnold, whose loose, informal style isn’t a million miles away from Vallée’s, directing the whole series.
As for Valleé’s unfortunate initial comments about the very notion of a second season, he has since come round to the idea, saying, “It’d be great to reunite the team and to do it”. Which is handy, because he retains an executive producer credit.