Is Big Little Lies Season 2 Coming to HBO?
By Hillary Busis. Photos: Courtesy of HBO.
Big Little Lies functions pretty perfectly as a contained, seven-episode entity—long enough to dive deeply into the complicated lives of its main characters, not so long that the central mystery driving the series (who killed whom?) ever feels overly drawn out. It’s the type of satisfying entertainment that leaves its audience wanting more—which is why some fans are already clamoring for additional episodes. (People, people—how have we not learned our lesson about this sort of thing yet?)
Though the series kinda-sorta leaves itself open for some form of continuation—its final shot reveals that a mysterious someone is surveying the Big Little Liars, who have just banded together to protect one of their own against a murder charge—director Jean-Marc Vallee would prefer to leave well enough alone. “The detective doesn’t want to let go and that’s how we finish that,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published right after the finale aired Sunday night. “Now it’s up to the audience and their imagination to figure out.
“To do a Season 2, I’m not for it. Let’s move on and do something else!” he continued, before hedging his bets just slightly: “If there’s an opportunity to reunite with Reese [Witherspoon], Nicole [Kidman], and these characters, of course, I’ll be a part of it . But Big Little Lies One is a one-time deal. Big Little Lies Two? Nah. The end is for the audience to talk about. Imagine what you want to imagine and that’s it. We won’t give you a Season 2 because it’s so good like this. Why spoil it?” He reiterated his stance in another Q&A with [Vulture](http://www.vulture.com/2017/04/big-little-lies-director-jean-marc-vallee-on-the-finale.html): “ No, no, this is the perfect ending. There is no way; there’s no reason to make a season two. That was meant to be a one-time deal, and it’s finishing in a way where it’s for the audience to imagine what can happen. If we do a season two, we’ll break that beautiful thing and spoil it.”
Point taken! In an age bursting at the seams with unnecessary sequels, remakes, and reboots, it’s nice to see an artist standing firmly in favor of conclusive endings. But even though HBO reportedly agrees with him, Vallee may find it difficult to stick to his guns, considering how eager other members of the Big Little Lies family seem to be about reuniting for another installment—especially two jewels of its star-studded cast.
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During an impromptu pre-finale Instagram Live session Friday, Witherspoon—an executive producer of Big Little Lies as well as one of its stars—revealed that she and her team have been discussing a possible Big Little Lies sequel. “One of the main questions everyone keeps asking us is is there going to be a Season 2,” she said. “We’ve been talking with the writer, and you guys should Facebook Liane Moriarty and tell her how much you want to see Big Little Lies 2. That would be good. She’s thinking about ideas, and so we would love to hear ideas.”
A few hours later, Witherspoon’s costar Laura Dern reiterated their hopes to Vanity Fair: “We had the time of our lives making this. People are asking us a lot if there is room for a Season 2 of this, and I know there is a lot of discussion, so. . . whatever it is, we will come up with something really fun for sure,” she said—before literally riding off into the sunset with Witherspoon. (She and Dern are on vacation together; yes, they’re having as much fun as you think they are.)
Given all that—and the show’s strong ratings, some 7 million viewers per episode—perhaps some sort of sequel is on the horizon after all. If it really is in the works, though, it certainly doesn’t seem like the kind of project that would come together quickly. Big Little Lies is a true ensemble show with a large and varied cast; juggling all those busy schedules a second time would be a monumental task, one that has foiled revivals before. (See, again, Arrested Development Season 4, which struggled to get the Bluth family in the same room for more than a scene or two, or Netflix’s Gilmore Girls redux, which could score only precious little time with former star Melissa McCarthy.)
But if another season does happen, prepare to see Vallee eat his words. Earlier in the T.H.R. interview, he noted that he had originally planned to direct only the first two episodes of Big Little Lies—until Witherspoon persuaded him to stick around for all seven. “She convinced me!” he said. “As I started to cast and work, she said, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to do everything?’ . . .Reese and Nicole and the kids I casted, everyone went, ‘We want you to do everything.’ I said, ‘O.K., let’s try it. I guess I’ll be fine.’“
The moral of the story: nobody says no to Reese Witherspoon. And if she’s hankering for more Big Little Lies, the rest of us should prepare ourselves for an eventual return to Monterey.
This story originally appeared on Vanity Fair.
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