'Big Little Lies' Season 3: A Guide to Everything We Know (2024)

Nicole Kidman cannot keep a secret when it comes to a third season of Big Little Lies.

Weeks after it was revealed that the cast -- including Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern,Zoë Kravitz and Shailene Woodley -- were planning to reprise their roles in the HBO hit series nearly a decade after the first season aired, Kidman shared an update on the highly anticipated project from author Liane Moriarty.

In a June 2024 interview with Vanity Fair alongside Witherspoon, Kidman, 56, went a step further than just echoing what she told ET in Januaryabout having "a timeline for it now."

"This one has already said too much," Witherspoon, 48, joked in their new interview.

"I got excited," Kidman admitted. Her regret was short-lived, however, as she quickly followed it up by spilling more details about season 3, saying, "We're moving fast and furious. Liane [Moriarty] is delivering the book. We’re in good shape."

Back in January, the Moulin Rouge star said that while the cast was all initially hesitant to return after the death of directorJean-Marc Vallée, they are now ready to head back to the affluent world of Monterey, California, for more drama.

Below, ET has compiled answers to some of the internet's most burning questions about Big Little Lies season 3. Read on to find out more!

Casting Chaos

A main roadblock for a third season seems to have been finding a time when all five of the lead actresses -- Kidman, Witherspoon, Woodley, Kravitz and 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 manydifferentthings… and Zoe [Kravitz]'s gone onto the Catwoman, so she's goingto be doing other things."

The Ladies Are In

Despite schedule concerns, 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 forPalm 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."

The 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 Australiaat the time."[Writers] David [E. Kelley] and Liane have a really good idea for it.Watch this space!"

Echoed Woodley to Harper's Bazaarin December 2023, "It’s been a dream for us [to do a third season]. Working together on that show wassomany 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."

Why Now?

Aside from the ladies all saying that they feel they can move forward on a third season while still respecting and remembering Vallée, Kidman recently stated that it was her own daughter, Sunday Rose -- whom she shares with husband Keith Urban -- that helped to move the production up.

In May, the actress chatted with Elleand said that Sunday, 16, who finished the first two seasons and immediately had an insatiable appetite for a third, had some questions for her mom's character, Celeste, and Meryl Streep's Mary Louise, the mother-in-law of Kidman in the show.

"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,'" Kidman told the outlet. "She's like, 'Celeste, she's not coping in the second one, what is she doing? I could kind of see the point of view of Mary Louise.'"

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 knows 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," Kidman toldEllethis 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 broughtBig Little Liestogether 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?"

On the business side of things, it looks like all lights are green asHBO and Max content chairman/CEO Casey Bloys toldVarietyearlier this year that the company is at the disposal of the five actresses and the producing team.

"Where you have all these stars, you've got to get their schedules in line, we have to get it written," Bloys told the outlet. "So, there's a lot that needs to be done. It’s very early stages right now. The entire cast is doing shows and movies, and everybody's very busy."

He continued, "But it’s a very special group. They love working together. And when they land on an idea, I believe they will make it happen. We're excited when they’re ready, and we will take those steps when they’re ready."

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