When is a miniseries no longer a miniseries? It’s hard to say, but a definitive point seems to be the one at which HBO garners 16 Emmy nominations and wins half of them. That’s right: the dramas of Monterey, California will see another day, for Big Little Lies has officially been renewed for a second season.
Anybody who watched the purported miniseries by David E. Kelley would certainly make a case that there’s room to grow. Despite the finality of the show’s climax, in which several embattled Monterey wives and mothers overcame their greatest common struggle through a mixture of forgiveness and pulpy violence, the show’s universe ultimately became one that allowed for a longer story. To expand it, Kelley has reportedly written the whole of the show’s upcoming second season, while Andrea Arnold (American Honey) will take over for Jean-Marc Vallée as director.
While Big Little Lies certainly allowed for finality with the way its initial run wrapped up, there’s definitely room to expand on the sardonic, soapy storytelling of the initial series as a full-blown TV show. Where it will go remains to be seen; the first season served as a full adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s source novel. That said, Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman will both return as the show’s leads, with Arnold helming all seven episodes of the show’s second season. The rest of the cast is currently in the negotiation phase.
Initial word of a second seasonwas met with skepticism, but Big Little Lies was always as much a series about interpersonal dynamics as it was one about its central murder mystery. As such, it’s not much of a stretch to see how it could become a full-fledged series, and if the first season’s arch, passive-aggressive storytelling is any indication, it’ll be a treat to watch whenever it returns.
