It’s official — everybody’s favourite ‘whodunnit’, Big Little Lies, is coming back for a third season.
Attending the 2024 Golden Globes earlier this year with her son Deacon Phillippe, the show's star Reese Witherspoon confirmed that she and Nicole Kidman, another of the show's actresses, were ‘working’ on season three. ‘We are working on it,’ she said during an interview on the red carpet. ‘Nic and I have been working on it a lot.’
For the uninitiated, the hit series, which debuted in 2017 and was based on Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name, tells the story of the aftermath of a murder in a wealthy enclave of California. The fall-out — and finger pointing — binds five women, and potential suspects, together as they attempt to carry on with their lives in the wake of the murder.
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With a starry cast which also features Zoe Kravitz, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern, the series achieved instant critical acclaim, with the first season scooping up 16 Emmys, four Golden Globes and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Needless to say, Big Little Lies has occupied more real estate in our brains than is healthy for a TV series, but for those of us for whom the questions just keep on coming about what became of the Monterey five, this is everything you need to know about its third season.
What will the plot of Big Little Lies season three be?
While almost nothing is known about the third series so far, it is expected that the plot will follow on from where the second season finished. The sophomoric series rounded off with Kravitz’ character, Bonnie, turning herself in for pushing Perry (Alexander Skarsgård) down the stairs that fateful night.
But questions remain about what happened to Bonnie and Celeste (Kidman), Perry's wife; what became of Madeline (Witherspoon) and Ed (Adam Scott), who seemed ready to move on after renewing their vows; what Renata (Dern) did next after finally calling it quits with her husband Gordon and whether Jane (Woodley) and Corey (Douglas Smith) ever managed to make a go of things after a string of failed dates.
What has the Big Little Lies cast said about season three?
In a June 2024 Vanity Fair video, Kidman admitted she had already given away 'too much' about the hugely anticipated third season of the Emmy-winning HBO series.
'I got excited,' she said. 'We need to shut up. There’s a whole thing about how you should never talk about something until you’ve done it because if you talk about doing it then it’s the dopamine hit of doing it and you feel like you’ve done it. It’s a scientific study.'
Kidman also went on to reveal that the Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty has been working on the sequel. 'We’re moving fast and furious. Liane is delivering the book,' she said. 'We’re in good shape.'
Not only did Wetherspoon confirm the news at this year’s Golden Globes, but in 2020, Kidman also said in a series of interviews that she’d be more than happy to return for a third season.
‘There is always talk of trying to do a season 3,’ she confirmed on the Deadline series Behind The Lens. Kidman later added, ‘We have some ideas. Liane Moriarty has some ideas. [Showrunner] David [Kelley] has some ideas. [Season 1 director] Jean Marc Vallee has ideas. Everybody has ideas. There's ripe material there.’
Three years later, in October 2023, Kidman confirmed that, well, something really is in the works for season three. ‘Kelley and Liane have a really good idea for it,’ the actress told Marie Claire Australia. She added that Witherspoon, Dern, and Kravitz are all interested in returning to the show. ‘Watch this space!’
The following month, in November 2023, Kidman solidified the rumours. During the CME Group Tour Championship, Deadline reported that Kidman confirmed a third season. ‘I loved Big Little Lies because it sort of came a long at a time in my life when I had my children and I was thinking I was going to retire,’ Kidman said. ‘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. Yeah.’
Not all of the cast seems so sure, though. Speaking to GQ in November 2022, Kravitz said that, after the death of the show’s director Jean-Marc Vallée in December 2021, she can’t imagine filming another season.
‘I don’t think it is [happening],’ she said. ‘We talked about doing a season three a lot and, unfortunately, Jean-Marc Vallée, our incredible director, passed away this last year, which is heartbreaking, and I just can't imagine going on without him. He really was the visionary for that show. So, unfortunately, it's done.’
Kravitz isn’t the only one to be unsure of the potential for a third season. Kelley said in February 2019 that there was ‘no such plan’ for another season in Monterey. ‘It's one and two, and we like our closure with season two, but that will probably be it.’
At the time of writing, HBO has yet to confirm a third season. If two of Tinsel Town’s biggest stars can be taken at their word, then Big Little Lies fans, rejoice! We’ll be taking another trip down to the Californian coast before we know it.
Who will star in Big Little Lies season three?
It’s expected that the core cast of the first and second seasons will return for the third series, but scheduling conflicts may arise which may prove difficult for all of the stars to reunite for filming. It also remains to be seen whether Meryl Streep, who starred in the sophomoric season, would return for a third season but fingers crossed she will.
When will Big Little Lies season three be released?
We might be slightly jumping the gun by betting on release dates, but the first season was released in 2017 and the second debuted in 2019, so by that logic, could we expect the third season two years from now? Mark your calendars for 2026, people.
Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
