Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty reveals plans for season three and whether the series will differ from the book - after Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon confirmed they'll be back
Liane Moriarty has shared plans to pen a third season of the critically acclaimed streaming series Big Little Lies.
The author, who wrote the original book behind the gripping drama, said she is working on a sequel novel the series will be based on - but doesn't expect the series to stick to her exact plot.
This will be a novel; I'm writing it' the 57-year-old Australian writer tells this week's issue of Stellar Magazine.
'I'm having a lot of fun with that, and I'll get my novel and then no problem – whatever they want to change, they can change' she continued.
'I know some readers get upset, they say, "I hope they don't change your book," and I always say, "Nobody can change my book, because there it is"'.
Liane says the show's stars, including Nicole Kidman, were the driving force behind getting her back to work on a follow up.
'Nicole sort of manifested – all of them did – this season three, and I thought it did make sense because is when the children are starting school and now, 10 years later, they're in high school, and there is a whole lot more material' she said.
It comes after Kidman revealed that she and Reese Witherspoon are 'moving fast and furious' on Big Little Lies season three.
Liane Moriarty (pictured) has shared plans to pen a third season of the critically acclaimed streaming series Big Little Lies
The HBO show was initially meant to be a one-season miniseries, but was such a runaway success with fans and critics that it received a second season, and now has yet another one in the works.
Reese and Nicole both starred on and executive produced the series, which follows the intrigues and scandals simmering underneath the gilded lives of a group of suburban mothers in tony Monterey, California.
'The rest is - we need to shut up, because there's this whole thing that you should never talk about something until you've done it,' Nicole told Vanity Fair.
Nicole let slip in November that a third season of the show was in the works - before several of her co-stars even got the news.
Liane says the show's stars, including Nicole Kidman, were the driving force behind getting her back to work on a follow up. Nicole is pictured in a scene from the series
'Then I've got Laura calling me, and Zoe and Shailene. They're all like: 'Nic said that we're making Big Little Lies season three?'' Reese recalled.
'But we are now!' Nicole noted. 'We're moving fast and furious, and Liane [Moriarty] is delivering the book. Yeah, and we're in good shape.'
However she declined to give any further details because she subscribes to the theory that 'If you talk about doing it, it's the dopamine hit of doing it. You feel like you've done it. Did you know that? Have you heard about that? It's a scientific study.'
The remarks come three months after Nicole shared that she has been speaking with her co-stars to develop a timetable for the shoot of season three.
Nicole also disclosed that it was her 15-year-old daughter Sunday who persuaded her to bring the show back after season two.
'Nicole sort of manifested – all of them did – this season three, and I thought it did make sense because is when the children are starting school and now, 10 years later, they're in high school, and there is a whole lot more material' she said
The Moulin Rouge star shares Sunday and a 13-year-old daughter called Faith with her second husband, country superstar Keith Urban.
Sunday, said Nicole, 'is the one who watched both of the series and went: 'Okay, there's just no question, there has to be a third.''
The teen took an evenhanded view of on one of the main plot threads of season two - the tempestuous relationship between Nicole's character Celeste and her mother-in-law Mary Louise, played by Meryl Streep.
Nicole recalled: '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.''
Over the course of the interview, Nicole also explained why she and Reese waited so long to bring the show back, given season two aired all the way back in 2019.
'There's the richness of the storylines, which we'd always discussed,' the To Die For actress shared: '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.'
The author, who wrote the original book behind the gripping drama, said she is working on a sequel novel the series will be based on - but doesn't expect the series to stick to her exact plot
One of the other plus points of this particular project for Nicole has been the fact that she and her co-stars managed to become genuine friends.
The program featured a top-flight cast including Laura Dern, Alexander Skarsgard, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz and Adam Scott.
Because the cast share a personal connection to each other, Nicole has had an easier time attempting to align everyone's schedules for a third season.
'I think when you're all scattered and never sort of cross paths, it's very, very different,' reasoned the Moulin Rouge! star.
'But when you're all still very intertwined, that's what makes it doable, because there's a willingness and you want to spend time together.'
'I loved Big Little Lies because it sort of came along at a time in my life when I had my children and I was thinking I was going to retire and then this situation came along, where Reese Witherspoon and I were able to produce that show,' she said.
'And then all of you watched it and made it a massive success,' she told the audience, adding: 'We will be bringing you a third one, just FYI.'
Read more in this week's issue of Stellar Magazine
