Here’s a big little update on Big Little Lies: Creator David E. Kelley is “hopeful” that we’ll get a third season of the HBO drama.
Kelley told People at the recent Gotham TV Awards in New York City that everyone “is very committed” to the idea of a Big Little Lies Season 3.
“We’re hoping it happens,” he said. “We had a great time doing the first two seasons, and we all want to do it again. I’m hopeful it’ll happen.”
None of the stars of Big Little Lies — a cast that includes Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Zoë Kravitz, Laura Dern, and Shailene Woodley — is under contract yet, Kelley explained. He said the trick is to “corral a lot of high-caliber talent and their publicists.”
And that high-caliber talent also includes Liane Moriarty, author of the 2014 novel Big Little Lies, who has written a book upon which Season 3 would be based, Kelley revealed.
“We haven’t really all gotten together to brainstorm yet, but again, it’s a great stable of talent,” he said. “Once we do [get together], I think we have a good shot of figuring it out.”
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Big Little Lies’ first season debuted in 2017 and followed five women connected to a homicide in Monterey, California, with Kelley scripting and Jean-Marc Vallée directing each episode.
The second season, based on a novella by Moriarty, dealt with the fallout of that crime, with Meryl Streep playing the mother of the deceased. That season premiered in 2019, with Kelley penning each teleplay and Andrea Arnold helming each episode.
Francesca Orsi, the executive vice president who oversees HBO’s drama series and films, told Variety this February she “couldn’t wait to get started” on Big Little Lies Season 3.
“But we need the remainder of the book,” Orsi said. “We have 150 pages in, and [Moriarty] is doubling down, looking to finish it. There’s a lot of eagerness from both HBO and the producing team, and as soon as it’s done, she’ll hand it over and we’ll adapt it. But until then, we just have to sit tight.”
And this spring, Kravitz told Elle that “everyone” wants to do a third season. “We’re like, ‘Call us and tell us when and where.’ That would be amazing if that could happen this year — I would be over the moon.”