'Big Little Lies' Season 3: A Guide to Everything We Know, From Who's Returning to Where New Episodes Stand
No big little lies here: The show has a third season in store.
The megahit drama series based on Liane Moriarty's novel, which premiered almost a decade ago (!) in 2017, is not over for good after all. Nearly five years since the second season came to a close in July 2019, fans have been wondering if the Monterey Five would ever return to the small screen again. Fortunately, one of its stars and executive producers -- Nicole Kidman -- has confirmed as much, telling ET in January, "We've got a timeline for it now."
"It's also letting things find their way and I think, you know, the time is... it's now. We're obviously all devastated at the loss of Jean-Marc Vallée," she noted, referencing the director who helmed the first season before his death on Dec. 25, 2021. "That made us go, 'Can we move forward?' But Reese [Witherspoon] and I, and all of the other women have decided yes we can."
But that's not the only crumb of insight the five stars have offered about the new season. For a full guide of what to know, keep on reading!
Casting Chaos
A main roadblock for a third season seems to have been finding a time when all five of the lead actresses -- Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, and Laura Dern -- could actually film. Back in January 2020, Kidman hinted at the potential scheduling nightmare at HBO's Television Critics Association winter press tour -- before the COVID-19 pandemic took over.
"Please don't move on!" she told reporters during a panel for her then-upcoming series, The Undoing. "We've been so focused on this and we would love to, but there are ideas that are further on down the track."
"Right now, look at Laura [Dern]. I don't think we'll ever get Laura back," Kidman quipped of the Oscar nominee. "She's working on so many different things… and Zoe [Kravitz]'s gone onto the Catwoman, so she's going to be doing other things."
The Ladies Are In
Despite any schedule concerns, Laura Dern made it clear she was on board if a third season ever arose. "I could never say no to Renata," she told ET back in 2020. The Oscar winner echoed the sentiment four years later, telling ET during an interview for Palm Royale, "I miss her, I will miss her, and I will jump at any opportunity to be in those terrifying shoes again -- gorgeous, but terrifying." She also wouldn't miss the chance to reunite professionally with "the best friends possible."
"We've become such a family," she said of the team, "so you know that would be an amazing dream."
Same goes for Kravitz, who Kidman said in 2020 was "in" for another season. "Reese [Witherspoon] and I talk or text once a week. She’s just moved back to Nashville and we’re really close. We all just want to work together again. I texted Zoë [Kravitz] and Laura [Dern] and they’re in," she told Marie Claire Australia at the time. "[Writers] David [E. Kelley] and Liane have a really good idea for it. Watch this space!"
Echoed Woodley to Harper's Bazaar in December 2023, "It’s been a dream for us [to do a third season]. Working together on that show was so many things, and the way that it affected so many people around the world and the way that it affected us—that was something none of us expected."
What Happens Next?
With all the women on board, what will they be up to in a third season? Even if they won't share just yet, it sounds like Kidman and Witherspoon know what direction the show is heading. "There's the richness of the storylines, which we'd always discussed, but it needed time because there’s actual unbelievable depth to the next chapter of these women’s lives and their children’s lives -- because children grow up, and that’s kind of fascinating," she told Elle this year.
Woodley has also referenced the maturing of their characters' kids as a subject to explore. "I think what excites me about the possibility of a third season, more than what I could think of with Jane, is the fact that these children [on the show] are not children anymore. They're teenagers now!" she told Harper's Bazaar. "Jean-Marc Vallée, our brilliant filmmaker who brought Big Little Lies together and really made it what it was, sadly passed away, and at his funeral last year, all of the kids came and the cast was there. So I’m looking around and I’m like, 'Where’s our kids?!' Their voices have dropped, they all have their teenage situation happening [waves hands over face to imply acne], and the angst is kicking in, and that, to me, is what is exciting about the possibility of a third season. What does life look like for those people who are not children anymore?"
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