Zoe Kravitz Confirms Her Hit Series Is Canceled
Sorry fans, but Big Little Lies is over and it's not coming back, according to Zoë Kravitz.
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In a new video interview with GQ, The Batman actress Zoë Kravitz has confirmed what a lot of fans did not want to hear: the hit HBO series Big Little Lies will not be getting a third season. The acclaimed series, which stars Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, and Shailene Woodley, aired its last original episode in June of 2019, with the second season finale. Fans hoped a delayed third season would film after the pandemic ended, but Kravitz claims the loss of the creative heart of the show would make a new season all but impossible.
“We talked about doing a season three a lot, and unfortunately, Jean-Marc Vallée, our incredible director, passed away this last year, which is heartbreaking, and I just can’t imagine going on without him,” Zoë Kravitz said in response to a question posed on social media. “He really was the visionary for that show. So unfortunately, it’s done.”
It’s an interesting answer, given that David E. Kelley (The Practice, L.A. Law, Ally McBeal) was the creator and executive producer of the show and wrote a number of episodes. Kravitz never mentioned Kelley in her answer, but seemed pretty definitive that Vallée was the glue that held the show together.
A third season was always going to be a long shot, as the series was envisioned as a one-season event series that was based on the best-selling novel by Liane Moriarty, according to the AV Club. Its popularity led HBO to develop a second season, with Moriarty brought on to write a new story based on the characters. Meryl Streep also joined the cast, but creative issues reportedly plagued the second season.
Vallée did not direct any of the second season episodes – Andrea Arnold did – as the director was working on another project. However, he came on in post-production and began heavily re-editing the entire season, and even ordering massive reshoots. He reportedly did not like the creative direction Arnold took and attempted to correct it, and the result left no one happy.
Critics and fans found the second season to be far inferior to the first, despite Vallée’s efforts to fix it. His passing may be one of the reasons why Zoë Kravitz was so adamant that the series was dead without him: she and the other cast members saw how his absence affected the show’s quality.
In 2017, Big Little Lies won an impressive eight Primetime Emmy Awards, including Nicole Kidman for Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, Alexander Skarsgård for Best Supporting Actor, Laura Dern for Best Supporting Actress, and Outstanding Limited Series. Jean-Marc Vallée also won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing. The second season was nominated for five Primetime Emmys, but won none.
Even HBO was not expecting a third season; Casey Bloys, who was president of HBO when the second season finale aired, warned that a third season that could reunite all the A-list actors in the cast was not very realistic. The behind-the-scenes production issues, tepid viewer response, and the Warner Bros. Discovery merger likely killed any chance of HBO seeking a third season.
