Everything We Know About a Potential ‘Big Little Lies’ Season Three

Grab your favorite cardigan, pour yourself a large glass of red wine, and get ready to stare wistfully at the horizon, because Big Little Lies may be returning for a third season. A new installment of HBO’s Emmy-winning drama series starring Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Zoe Kravitz, and Shailene Woodley is reportedly in the works, with Kidman teasing that she and Witherspoon have been “texting every day” about developing a new chapter of David E. Kelly’s buzzy murder mystery based on Lianne Moriarty’s 2014 novel.

“We’re at work on it,” Kidman told Variety. ““And there’s a timeline and we’re doing it.” Witherspoon confirmed that she and Kidman were hard at work reuniting the real mothers of Monterey. “We’re working on it,” she said to Variety on the Golden Globes red carpet. “Nic and I are working on it a lot.”  HBO did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment. 

How did Big Little Lies go from DOA to a potential third season? Let us explain.

Wait, wasn’t Big Little Lies supposed to be a limited series?Initially, it was. Like its HBO sister The White Lotus, Big Little Lies was originally developed and billed as a limited series when it premiered on the network on February 19, 2017. But that’s because the network apparently didn’t realize what a hit it would have on its hands. Big Little Lies was huge both critically and commercially, winning five Emmys, including outstanding supporting actor in a limited series (Alexander Skarsgård), outstanding director of a limited series (Jean-Marc Vallée), outstanding supporting actress in a limited series (Dern), outstanding lead actress in limited series (Kidman), and outstanding limited series. 

The following December, it was announced that Big Little Lies would be returning for a second season. 

How was the second season? Well… not great. Things got off to a strong start when HBO announced that the incredibly vibe-appropriate Meryl Streep would be joining the cast in season two as the mother-in-law of Kidman’s Celeste. But production was notoriously bumpy. Director Andrea Arnold was initially hired to direct the seven-episode second season, but eventually left the production “heartbroken” due to creative differences between herself and Vallée. Vallée took the reins back, directing the rest of the episodes and re-editing episodes Arnold had already shot so that they would better fit his style and aesthetic.  

Despite the drama, Big Little Lies premiered on June 9, 2019. While still buzzy and popular with viewers, the second season was less critically acclaimed than the first, with VF writing that the series “flubbed the landing.” Season two was only nominated for two Emmys—both Streep and Dern scored nods for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series—and lost both. While the fate of the series was in the air, it weathered an unexpected tragedy when Vallée died in 2021 at his cabin in Quebec City at the age of 58. The following year, Kravitz said that Big Little Lies was effectively “done” after the loss of their director. “I can’t imagine going on without him,” she said. 

So, how did season three of Big little Lies get off the ground?According to Kidman, her daughter actually had something to do with it. In an interview for Vogue Australia, Kidman said she recently watched the series with her fifteen-year-old daughter, Sunday, who immediately became obsessed with the show.

“She was like, ‘No. There’s no more discussion. The third series has to happen…I’m sick of the talk. Sick of circling it. Just get it done,’” Kidman said. “You need a teenager to go, ‘Enough. Just do it.’”

Witherspoon, who served as an executive producer alongside Kidman on the series, has always expressed interest in returning to Big Little Lies. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Witherspoon said that making a third season of the series was a “deep desire” for her. “I talk to Nicole Kidman about it all the time, too,” Witherspoon said, before naming her fellow co-stars. “And Laura Dern. And Zoë Kravitz. And Shailene Woodley. Somebody asked me the other day, ‘What co-stars do you talk to more than any other?’ It’s absolutely the Big Little Lies cast. We’re always talking and texting.”

That closeness, particularly the friendship between Kidman and Witherspoon, might be why a third season of Big Little Lies comes to fruition. “We are very close,” Kidman told Vogue Australia. “We live in the same city five minutes from each other, and we spend enormous amounts of our off-work time together. We’re always like, ‘We could do this, and we could do that!’ And now, the train has left the station.”

While there’s no clear timeline or details about season three of Big Little Lies, it is clear that the project is near and dear to the hearts of both Witherspoon and Kidman. “I loved Big Little Lies because it sort of came along at a time in my life when I had my children, and I was thinking I was going to retire,” said Kidman in November 2023, per Deadline. “And then this situation came along where Reese Witherspoon and I were able to produce that show and create that show, and then all of you watched it and made it a massive success. And we will be bringing you a third one, just FYI.” Consider yourself informed.