‘Tell Me Lies’ Creator Unpacks Season 3’s Scandalous Start and the Episode She Calls “F***ing Brilliant”

Logo text

[ThisstorycontainsMAJORspoilersfromthefirstthreeepisodesof[ThisstorycontainsMAJORspoilersfromthefirstthreeepisodesofTell Me Lies season three: “You F*cked It, Friend,” We Can’t Help It If We Are A Problem” and “Repent.”]

Meaghan Oppenheimer wants to remind viewers that everything isn’t always what it seems.

Following that epic Tell Me Lies season two finale that ended with Stephen (Jackson White) sending Bree (Cat Missal) a voice recording of Evan (Branden Cook) confessing he slept with Lucy (Grace Van Patten) in college — right before Bree walks down the aisle to marry Evan in the show’s 2015 timeline — everyone’s favorite toxic gang has returned with more chaos.

In the three-episode premiere now streaming (Hulu surprised dropped the third episode early), Bree and Evan say “I do” in the 2015 timeline and in the 2008 college timeline, Stephen forces Lucy to record a video admitting she lied about being sexually assaulted, Evan confronts Professor Oliver (Tom Ellis) about his previous relationship with Bree, and Diana (Alicia Crowder) gets a positive pregnancy test.

While some questions have been answered, there are also many new mysteries on the table. And creator/writer Oppenheimer reveals they will be answered in due time. “I would say the ending of the season is always how I had imagined the ending being,” she teases The Hollywood Reporter. “I had always imagined those two timelines culminating together in the way they do.”

Below, Oppenheimer unpacks season three’s wild premiere episodes — including Lucy’s heavy videotape, Bree’s pre-wedding confession to Lucy, Stephen’s toxic behavior and Diana’s pregnancy — and brings viewers into Lucy’s current headspace at the end of episode three: “She’s in such a shame spiral that she believes this is what she deserves.”

***

This new season picks up exactly where season two ended, after Bree got the voicemail from Stephen at her wedding. But instead of Bree getting mad at Lucy, she freaks out and tells her friend that she’s the terrible person, and doesn’t even seem bothered by the voice memo. Can viewers expect to find out why she said that later this season?

Absolutely. There are things about Bree that none of the other characters know, and people are going to be very surprised by Bree’s arc up until, honestly, the very last episode. That was very important to me to set that [up] as everyone expected her to hear the voicemail and go to Lucy. And then to hear her suddenly say, “I’m a bad person”? We’re putting it out there that people don’t know everything about Bree.

It’s revealed pretty early on in the season that Bree and Evan actually do make it down the aisle in the 2015 timeline. Why confirm that they actually get married so early in the season?

Because I think people aren’t expecting it, and I think they were expecting the carnage at the wedding to be about the vows — and it’s not about the vows. There is carnage that happens, but it’s not about whether or not they say “I do.”

Bree also doesn’t seem to be missing Evan all that much in the college timeline, but they end up getting married later. Can viewers expect to see when she changes her mind?

One million percent. We will really explore the psychology with both Bree and Evan about why they ultimately end up together at the wedding. And there are a lot of things they both don’t know about each other when they walk down the aisle.

In the first episode, Stephen wants Lucy to tell him about Evan, even though he already knows. Why do you think he wants to hear it from her directly and, even if she did tell him, do you think he actually would have gotten past it?

I think it would’ve softened it initially, but no, I think he would’ve always wanted Lucy to choose him above everyone else, specifically Bree. And I think he would always have wanted to punish her for her closeness to Bree, knowing that this lie existed.

Stephen’s reaction to Lucy and Evan almost seemed like a parallel to his reaction when he learned Diana and Wrigley (Spencer House) slept together in season one. Was that purposeful?

Definitely. Because I think Stephen lies to himself by saying, “Oh, well, if he had just told me sooner, I would’ve been forgiving.” I think it’s bullshit. He wants to feel in control, and he is wildly jealous of other people and even friendships for people he’s in a relationship with. He can’t handle not being the most important person in someone’s life because he has narcissistic personality disorder, and I think that’s what happens. He lies to himself and says, “Oh, if they had just been honest, I would’ve forgiven them.”

Lucy’s video confession in episode three is so hard to watch, and we see how ruthless Stephen is in the way he records her as she’s breaking down and makes her start over. Can you take me into the writers room for that scene?

I do prep before the writers room and before I started the room, I had gotten kind of obsessed with that idea of ​​him making her put it on tape, and rehearsing it and him stopping her and starting her. I just could see that in my head. Initially, when I pitched that to the room, there was a little bit of concern, and not just from the other writers but for me as well as: Is that believable that she would actually do that, that she would put it on tape? So we had to really dig into the immediacy of why. And the stakes had to be so high and so immediate in terms of her losing her friendship with Bree.

Then when we brought it to the network and studio, there was still some concern of: Is that believable? Would she do that? So we had to really make sure that we upped the stakes of how much her friendship with Bree meant to her. But also, it was about Grace’s performance in that moment of having her be such a caged animal, where she’s not thinking beyond the right now. She’s not thinking about long-term consequences. She’s thinking, “How do I stop him from calling Bree right at this moment?” And it was a challenge. But honestly, Grace’s performance is what sold it because once we filmed the scene, there were no questions anymore about whether it was believable or not.

Lucy is really going through it so far this season. Her sex with Alex (Costa D’Angelo) speaks to where she is emotionally and mentally. What is Lucy looking for by asking to be called “pathetic” and other names during sex?

She’s in such a shame spiral that she believes this is what she deserves. Also, there’s a part of her that has learned with her relationship with Stephen to conflate chemistry with toxicity. I think she’s gotten so used to that being part of what is sexual for her that she can’t give it up, and so she’s a little bit addicted to it.

Initially, those two scenes — the sex scene with Alex at the end of [episode] three and the tape — were separate. But one of our writers, Mona [Mira]pitched the room, “What if we interrupt those?” I thought it was such a smart pitch, because that tells us exactly what’s happening. We’re in Lucy’s head in this confession tape where she’s apologizing and, even though it’s forced, she is genuinely feeling as much shame as she’s making that tape. So intercutting that with the sex scene made it clearer for me. I told Mona that it was my favorite pitch anyone had this season. When she said it, she’s like, “This might be crazy.” And I was like, “That’s not crazy. That’s fucking brilliant.”

With Diana, we’re starting to see more of how her relationship first formed with Pippa (Sonia Mena). But then this positive pregnancy test was a surprise. Diana is someone who always has everything figured out, why throw this unexpected surprise her way?

That was another idea that came pretty early to me. Because Diana had finally gotten away from Stephen, I needed something that brought her back into his web of destruction. It’s this girl who’s done everything right and this fucking thing that she has no control over is now tying her back to that person. I felt like that was a very relatable, unfair thing to now have something literally inside of you that you want nothing to do with. It’s scary.

I saw you posted on Instagram recently talking about the role music played in the writing process this season. I’m thinking about “Mr. Brightside” in that insane season one finale. Can you expand on how music influenced the writing/production process for season three?

It’s always kind of the starting point for me. When I’m doing prep for the writers room, I start to listen to songs and as I’m listening, I figure out the themes that keep coming up. [When] I write a lot of scenes, I already have the song picked before I write them. Episode four, there’s a song at the very end of the episode that is one of my favorite moments. I pitched the whole scene with that song and had the writers listen to it. Everyone makes fun of me because I’ll literally beat it out beat by beat. I’m such a nerd.

But it’s always such a big part. I think it allows directors and editors to understand how you want something to feel, not just what’s written on the page — the feeling a whole scene should have. Nothing can do that like music can. It’s such a tool. And these were the songs I listened to in high school and college, so it takes me right back to that time in my life. Picking the music is my favorite part of the whole thing. It’s so much fun.

How many seasons did you always envision this show would be, and have you stuck with that vision when making season three?

I can’t really give a specific answer to that question right now, but I would say the ending of the season is always how I had imagined the ending being. In terms of what could happen beyond that, who knows? But I had always imagined those two timelines culminating together in the way that they do this season. But there are a lot of things that happen within the seasons that are huge surprises, obviously.

Does that mean you plan to answer a lot of the unanswered questions from season two?

Yes, I think for sure.

***

The first three episodes of Tell Me Lies are currently streaming on Hulu. Check out all of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Tell Me Lies coverage, including our premiere interview with Jackson White.