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Entertainment

'Big Little Lies' Is Coming Back for a Second Season

Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman are still starring and producing, and the show is tapping Andrea Arnold to direct.
Drew Schwartz
Brooklyn, US
Still via HBO

HBO's Emmy-award winning Big Little Lies is officially coming back for another season, with Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman set to star—a surprise move for a limited series that didn't plan on filming a second season from the start.

Witherspoon and Kidman are returning to produce the season after an awards show-shattering first run, along with creator David E. Kelley, who—just like last season—is writing every episode, Variety reports. But in the stead of season one's director Jean-Marc Vallée, Big Little Lies is picking up Andrea Arnold (of Transparent and American Honey).

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"I’m beyond excited to be working with talented and acclaimed director Andrea Arnold, who will be at the helm," Kidman said in a statement. "Andrea’s unique storytelling style will be a welcome addition to the filmmaking team."

Big Little Lies won eight Emmys for its take on Lianne Moriarty's book, which follows a group of moms in idyllic Monterey, California, whose lives run off the rails after a murder at a fundraiser for their children's school. Zoë Kravitz, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, and Adam Scott also starred in the series, and HBO is working to bring them back onto the show. It's unclear where the second season might go—as the season wrapped up pretty neatly, and Moriarty hasn't written a follow-up to her book—but according to Vulture, a few new characters are coming to the table.

Casting calls the site obtained show the series plans to incorporate a new second-grade teacher who gets on Dern's character's bad side (not a good place to be), pitching her daughter into a panic attack with a lecture on global warming. We'll also apparently see a new hire in the elementary school's administrative office who buddies up with Jane (Woodley), and meet the dysfunctional couple who raised Bonnie (Kravitz).

In a statement to Variety, HBO said the show plans to tackle the "malignancy of lies, the durability of friendships, the fragility of marriage and, of course, the vicious ferocity of sound parenting." And it should all get pretty messy: "Relationships will fray, loyalties will erode, [and] the potential for emotional and bodily injury shall loom," HBO said.

Witherspoon had teased the idea of a second season and HBO had pushed for it, but according to Kidman, it was the fans who made it happen.

"This is inspired by the overwhelming response by audiences around the world," she said in a statement. "I’m so grateful to have this opportunity to keep exploring these female characters and make this series with my friends."

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