The season two finale of Big Little Lies aired in 2019 on HBO, and for a while, it seemed to be the last fans were going to see of the Monterey Five. For years, season three looked unlikely, though not entirely out of the question.
But now, Big Little Lies season three seems to be happening, with star Nicole Kidman saying at the end of 2023, "I loved Big Little Lies. We will be bringing you a third one, just FYI." In a new interview in Elle in March 2024, Kidman said her daughter, Sunday, is part of the reason season three is in the works. "My daughter is the one who watched both of the series and went, 'Okay, there's just no question, there has to be a third,'" she said.
Apparently, after this interview, all of Kidman's co-stars called up Reese Witherspoon to ask if it was greenlit. "I’ve got Laura [Dern] calling me and Zoe [Kravitz] and Shailene [Woodley]. They’re all like, ‘Nic said that we’re making Big Little Lies season three?" Witherspoon said in a new interview in June 2024. Kidman added, "But we are now! We’re moving fast and furious, and Liane [Moriarty] is delivering the book. Yeah, and we’re in good shape."
Here's everything we know so far about Big Little Lies season 3:
Nicole Kidman says there's a good chance Big Little Lies season three could happen.
"Everyone says, ‘Are you going to do a season three?'" Kidman told Elle in October 2019. "We’re like, 'Just give us a sec.'" But she soon added, "We’d love to [do another season] because we love being together, and it’s lovely spending time with your friends, and with such good material."
In an interview with Deadline, Kidman said that if a season three happens, it must be born out of a strong story. "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. 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. But it’s so nice as actors having that, and that’s where it started. That’s where the second one started," she said.
"If there is a third one, all of it will come from the writers, and that’s amazing. Liane is deeply talented. David is deeply talented, and the combination of them is extraordinary. So, where they would take it, I have no idea. You have to bow down to the writers, because that really is where it starts. Unless you’re a director/writer, and then you write it. But this show, we’ll see what Liane can muster, and if she has an interest in it." But she's still aware that it'll be tough to get the cast back together. "I don’t think we’d ever get Laura [Dern] back!” she continued. “Everyone’s working ... Hopefully we can collide again at one point.”
And, in March 2024, it seems like season three is really on track to happen. Kidman told Elle that she and Reese Witherspoon have been texting about season three, and that they feel the timing is right to return to Monterey. "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," Kidman said.
Many main cast members are eager to reprise their roles.
When asked about the possibility of a third season at the Golden Globes in 2020, Laura Dern said: "Well when Reese [Witherspoon] and Nicole [Kidman] get back here you ask them, but I can never say no to Renata, and she is a dream come true to play so it's impossible to not want to play her more and be with truly my best friends."
Shailene Woodley would also want to return as Jane Chapman, saying at the end of 2023: "What is exciting about the possibility of a third season. What does life look like for those people who are not children anymore?"
Zoë Kravitz, who plays Bonnie Carlson, revealed in August 2024, "I’m waiting to see, like everybody else, the third season that’s happening. Waiting by the phone, waiting for the script to be done." She added she knows "nothing" about Big Little Lies season three, but she's "excited to do it."
Iain Armitage, who played Jane's son Ziggy Chapman, would also love to return. "I haven’t heard anything fully officially yet, but when such incredible intelligent people as our leading ladies start talking, I think it’s pretty hard not to listen," he said in May 2024. "I'd be honored to be back."
HBO president Casey Bloys has said it's "not realistic."
Bloys said he "would do anything" with the Big Little Lies team, but the odds of everyone back together for another round of episodes are slim. "The reality is, they are some of the busiest actresses working in Hollywood," he said, according to TVLine. "I just think it’s not realistic." He said season two provided closure. "Season two was a chance for everyone involved to end [the franchise] in a way that feels satisfying."
Show creator David E. Kelley previously said "there is no plan" for another season.
Per Harper's Bazaar, when asked about plans for a third season, Kelly said there was "no such plan now." He added, "I think that it’s one and two, and we like where our closure is at the end of season two, so that will probably be it." The cast was also onstage, and after Kelley shot down the idea of a season three, Witherspoon reminded him, "That’s what you said last time!" She said, "You sat there and said the same thing!"
In an interview with Variety in June 2020, Witherspoon was asked about the possibility of season three. "I never say never, because we thought 'Big Little Lies' was going to be one season, and we had no idea we were going to go back," she replied.
Some people are hesitant about continuing the story.
While there's huge incentive for HBO to continue a series that has had success both critically and commercially, there's a vocal group that believes the show should have ended with season one.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, writer Kelley revealed that he initially thought even creating a second season would be a mistake. "We wrote it as a one-off and we ended it in a way that was very lyrical. But we ended on a lie. I get so protective of characters and series, too, that I don't want to damage them in any way, and I so loved how we ended year one and I thought, Let's just leave it at that," he said.
But then he was convinced by the character Meryl Streep is playing that a second season could work. "Liane [Moriarty, author of the novel Big Little Lies] wrote a novella of [new] stories, and most of them we're using," he shared. "But the genius one was introducing this character who's being played by Meryl Streep. It's a delicious character and I felt bringing her in was both liberating and daunting. " So perhaps there's still a chance that he'll change his mind once again.
Need to catch up?
Big Little Lies seasons one and two are available to stream on Max (formerly HBO Max):
As the digital director for Town & Country, Caroline Hallemann covers culture, entertainment, and a range of other subjects
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.
