HBO is moving forward with a third season of the drama Big Little Lies, with Francesca Sloane signed to write the season’s first episode and to serve as an executive producer, industry outlets reported Thursday.
Variety and Deadline said Sloane — known as a co-creator and showrunner on Amazon’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith — was hired as part of a two-year overall deal with the network. Series creator David E. Kelley will return to the executive-producing team, and Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon are reported to be leading the cast for the new season. The Post reached out to HBO and representatives for Kelley, Kidman and Witherspoon for comment.
Big Little Lies premiered on HBO in February 2017. The first season, set in the upscale community of Monterey, Calif., centered on a murder and drew an ensemble cast that included Kidman, Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, Zoë Kravitz and Alexander Skarsgård. The inaugural season earned 16 Emmy nominations and won eight, including Outstanding Limited Series.
The second season, which debuted in June 2019 and picked up in the aftermath of the murder of Perry Wright, introduced Meryl Streep to the cast and received five Emmy nominations in 2020 but did not win. The series has remained a touchstone for prestige television and continues to draw attention when discussion of additional episodes arises.
Talk of a third season has circulated for several years. Kidman told Variety in January 2024 that she and Witherspoon were "texting every day" and had a timeline, and Witherspoon said at the same time that the pair were working on it. HBO and Max content chief Casey Bloys told Variety he had heard about an idea for another season and that Kidman and Witherspoon had been in touch with author Liane Moriarty, whose novel inspired the series.
Kelley has also expressed hope that a third season would happen. In June, he told People that he and others involved with the show were eager to return and that they had "a good shot of figuring it out" once they convened to brainstorm. Sloane’s reported hiring signals HBO’s intention to begin that process in earnest.
Any new season will proceed without Jean-Marc Vallée, the director whose work guided the show’s visual and tonal approach. Vallée died in December 2021 at age 58. In the months following his death, cast members including Zoë Kravitz publicly questioned whether the series could continue without him, calling his contribution to the show indispensable.
Specifics about the new season’s plot, additional casting, production timeline and premiere date have not been disclosed. Industry outlets reported that Sloane will executive-produce alongside Kelley, Witherspoon and Kidman; further producing and writing credits for the season will likely be announced as development proceeds.
HBO’s decision to develop a third season follows increased interest from the core cast and creative team over the past year. While the show’s earlier success centered on a self-contained story that spanned two seasons, the return of principal stars and the engagement of new and returning writers and producers mark the next phase of the franchise’s evolution.
Reports of Sloane’s deal and her involvement mark the first concrete step toward reviving the series. Representatives for the network and principal creatives had not publicly confirmed additional details at the time of publication.