Warning: Spoilers for Big Little Lies season 2 ahead.
The Big Little Lies season 2 finale ended with Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz) deciding to turn herself in for pushing Perry down the stairs that fateful night. With the Monterey Five finally freed from their big lie, the story seemed to be at its end; Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) and Ed (Adam Scott) are ready to move on after renewing their vows, Celeste (Nicole Kidman) gets to stay with her kids, Renata (Laura Dern) is finally done with her ranch-betting husband Gordon, and Jane (Shailene Woodley) begins to open up to Corey (Douglas Smith) after a few difficult attempts.
But some viewers had questions, requesting even more closure after that ending. What would happen to Bonnie after her confession—would she be let off the hook for trying to defend her friends? And would the other women be in trouble with the law for helping keep the truth under wraps? Will Ed ever tell Madeline about Tori’s proposal? Is Renata going to rise again, like a beautiful phoenix with a lot of money?
The only way we’d find out is with a third season. Is that in the cards? Here’s everything we know.
Is the cast of Big Little Lies available for a third season?
While fan fervor for another installment persists, wrangling the all-star cast of BLL would be no easy feat. During a panel at the Television Critics Association press tour, Nicole Kidman spoke about the logistics of a third season, per Variety. “We would love to,” she offered when asked about returning for season 3, “but there are ideas that are further on down the track…we’ve been so focused on [The Undoing, Kidman’s limited series with Lies writer David E. Kelley].”
The Oscar winner admitted she isn’t the only Monterey resident with a full schedule. Reese Witherspoon starred in Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere alongside Kerry Washington and is developing projects including Legally Blonde 3. Meanwhile Zoe Kravitz led her own Hulu series, High Fidelity, while prepping to play Catwoman. As for Laura Dern, who recently won an Oscar for Marriage Story and starred in fellow nominee Little Women?
“Right now look at Laura, I don’t think we’d ever get Laura back,” Kidman told the outlet. “She’s working in so many different things right now.” She continued, “So I think everyone’s working in incredibly good places, which is a lovely thing to have come out of that show. Hopefully we can all collide again at some point.”
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But, which cast members are interested in doing another season?
Reese Witherspoon was fairly noncommittal at the Big Little Lies season 2 premiere when asked about further seasons: “I don’t know [if it could happen],” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I never say never. You don’t know. And [season 2] was a surprise.”
But apparently time (and quarantine) has made she and Laura Dern more interested in returning to their BLL characters. During a recent Instagram Live together, the pair spoke about returning to the world of Monterey. “I really do fantasize that we’ll do it again cause I miss—don’t you miss those characters?” Dern asked. Witherspoon added later in the chat, “We want to do it, we’re just kind of waiting. We’re trying, guys. We’re trying to come up with the right story—and how do we end after that cliffhanger?”
Witherspoon also revealed some celebrity cameo ideas she had for a third season. When asked by Dern who should join the starry cast, she said, “I wish Ice Cube! Ice Cube should be in Big Little Lies 3.” Dern replied, “Hello? Obviously. There’s no question, and such a good actor.” Another possibility, if Witherspoon had her way? “I mean, I’m always hoping for J.Lo to show up, just ’cause I really enjoy some J.Lo,” she admitted.
However busy the cast may be, Kidman is definitely Team Season 3. When asked by Deadline in November 2019 about the status of the third season, she deferred to the BLL creative team. “The muse is Liane, and she will construct something, so it’s left there. And I like how that is, that it’s David and Liane,” Kidman explained. “It’s David’s show. David E. Kelley constructed this show with Liane Moriarty. They built it from the ground up, and it’s their show, and we’ll see if they’re ignited into building a life for these women, and which way they would go next. We’ll find out.”
Back in July, Kidman told The Daily Telegraph, “I think we would love to do a season 3 because there is certainly ideas, but we would not do it without all of the same people involved…even the kids.” That’s a big ask, but fingers crossed.
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Has season 3 of Big Little Lies been confirmed?
No. If anything, the higher-ups at HBO seem pretty adamant that season 2 will be the final installment of the drama. The show’s creator, David E. Kelley, said all the way back in February that there was “no such plan” for another season in Monterey. “It’s one and two, and we like our closure with season 2, but that will probably be it.”
He’s not alone in suggesting season 3 is off the table. HBO president Casey Bloys told TVLine that the demanding schedules of the show’s A-list cast made further seasons unlikely: “I love this group of people—I would do anything with them…But the reality is, they are some of the busiest actresses working in Hollywood. We have deals with some of them—Nicole [Kidman] is doing her next show [The Undoing] with us. I just think it’s not realistic.”
Let’s hope they all get their iCals synced, though, because it sounds like HBO would be up for it if the actors could make it work. “Look, if they all came to me and said, ‘We worked out all of our schedules!’—then sure,” Bloys told TVLine. “But I just don’t think it’s realistic.” Well, given that Big Little Lies‘ second season was itself a surprise renewal, it’s not a total impossibility…right?
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