Nine Perfect Strangers and The Morning Show can wait: Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon have confirmed that a third season of Big Little Lies is on the way. They’re getting the band (of violently destructive women) back together. Below, the latest news on your favorite beach read show, including an update on development.
Who’s returning to Monterey?
Writer Francesca Sloane of Mr. & Mrs. Smith (the TV show) officially joined production on September 11, per Deadline. She will write the first episode of season three and will executive produce the season with Kidman, Witherspoon, and the series’ original creator, David E. Kelley. Sloane’s involvement is part of an overall deal she has with HBO. The news comes the same day that it was confirmed that Prime Video is pausing Mr. & Mrs. Smith, per THR, which was slated to star Mark Eydelshteyn and Sophie Thatcher.
Additionally, the series will be based on an upcoming sequel to the novel written by Liane Moriarty. Nicole is “very excited. They’re all excited. We’re excited. We’re all waiting for the book, which I believe is coming soon, but I do not have a copy in my hands,” HBO CEO Casey Bloys said, per Deadline, in November 2024. There is not currently any release date for the book. “Nicole and I have been waiting,” Witherspoon told E! News, which honestly makes it sound like Moriarty is out of time. “We’re in waiting for Liane Moriarty. She’s going to be turning in something very soon. We’re back to the original author and we’re going to go back to the original characters.”
Someone whose absence will definitely be felt this season is director Jean-Marc Vallée. Vallée passed in 2021, and his death was one of the things in the “never gonna happen” column for a potential season three. Who will take on this big little directorial task? We’ll let you know.
How did this all begin?
Hints of Big Little Lies season three stirred in November 2023, when Nicole Kidman told a Neapolitan Q&A, “We will be bringing you a third one, just FYI.” This apparently got the actors a-clucking along with the fans. Reese Witherspoon chastised her co-producer for counting her chickens before they hatch, but understood the impulse. “It’s okay, baby. I get excited too,” she told Kidman in Vanity Fair.
Which liars are lying in season three?
Speaking of hens a-cluckin’, all the Big Little Liars were ringing up Witherspoon to see if there was really a season three, or if Kidman was just on one. “I’ve got Laura [Dern] calling me, and Zoë [Kravitz], and Shailene [Woodley],” Witherspoon said. “They’re all like, ‘Nic said that we’re making Big Little Lies season three?’” Seems likely that if these actors are getting name-dropped, they’re on the call sheet. Noticeably absent? Meryl Streep and her fake teeth.
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- Nicole Kidman Is Dusting Off Her Big Little Lies Wig for Season 3
Francesca Sloane, of Mr. & Mrs. Smith fame, will executive produce and write the first episode.
