Hulu’s original series “Tell Me Lies” proved to be a huge success for the streamer, and now that it’s back for a third season, fans of the series, which focuses on the world’s most toxic relationship between the deeply misguided Lucy Albright (Grace van Patten) And the openly villainous Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White)see these two destroy each other once again. The series, led by showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer, is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Carola Lovering – but as a fan of both the book and the series, what I love about the latter is that it greatly expands the scope of the story. Rather than focusing solely on Lucy and Stephen – who, frankly, provide enough drama for the series to could be more myopic and center them entirely – the show pays a lot of attention to the supporting characters, all of whom also have fascinating issues and internal lives.
I had the opportunity to speak to Oppenheimer about the third season of “Tell Me Lies,” and the showrunner talked about the adaptation process and why she decided to expand the story beyond the tumultuous relationship between Stephen and Lucy. “She created an incredible world,” Oppenheimer said of Lovering, who works as a consulting producer on the series. “She’s not writing this, and luckily she was so open from day one about understanding that the show and the book needed to be separate things. I think her book is incredible. I think it lived a lot in the internal world, which would have been difficult to have it played out on screen in the same way. ” Oppenheimer is absolutely right and it’s clear that Lovering trusted him to bring this story to life.
Tell Me Lies showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer says she started expanding the world in season 2
During our interview, Meaghan Oppenheimer explained that she and Carola Lovering were very closely in sync on “Tell Me Lies,” especially considering that the show’s second season deviates quite a bit from the original novel by continuing the story. As Oppenheimer said of Lovering, “She was very, very open to making the show what it was going to be, and I think that trust and freedom is what allowed me to move forward.” So how did Oppenheimer manage to strike out on her own, so to speak?
“In the first season we definitely used the book more, and then in the second season I knew to leave that aside for the most part, but we still take the […] emotional […] DNA of the show she created with the book, [it’s] it’s always the lifeline,” Oppenheimer clarified, and she’s right; the first season closely follows Lovering’s novel, and season 2 is where fans can really see the series diverge. Yet the showrunner made sure to maintain the essence of the story.
“When I read this book, I was so amazed by the way she captured this suffocating dependence on another person,” Oppenheimer explained. “And I thought she was really brave and amazing the way she allowed her characters to humiliate themselves so much, you know what I mean? I thought she was so brave with that that it allowed us to sometimes delve deeper into these really nasty behaviors.”
Lucy and Stephen are fascinating, but their friends’ stories on Tell Me Lies are just as compulsive.
I’m a big fan of Carola Lovering’s book: Who among us hasn’t found ourselves in a toxic relationship? – but I have to say that the way Meaghan Oppenheimer used the foundations of the novel to give space to other characters is phenomenal. In fact, I’ve written before about how “Tell Me Lies” is a rare adaptation that surpasses its source material as it goes well beyond toxic relationships to tell other stories. (Yes, almost every relationship depicted on screen is toxic, except for one, but I’ll get to that.) This, to me, is most evident when it comes to Bree and Pippa, Lucy’s two best friends played by Cat Missal and Sonia Mena, respectively.
Bree, whose characterization deepens when we learn that she had a difficult childhood in and out of different foster homes, finds herself torn between two paths throughout Season 2. Should she reconcile with her seemingly perfect boyfriend, Evan (Branden Cook), or continue her illicit affair with her married professor Oliver (star of “Lucifer” and Oppenheimer’s real-life husband, Tom Ellis)? Sure, the answer may seem “obvious” to viewers, but the way Bree struggles with her attraction to Oliver – and acts accordingly – feels extraordinarily real. (Missal, by the way, sells this scenario wonderfully.) As for Pippa, despite her on-and-off relationship with the affable but troubled Wrigley (Spencer House), she explores her sexuality in season 3 by pursuing a secret relationship with Diana (Alicia Crowder), Stephen’s ex… and infidelity aside, the bond between Diana and Pippa is the purest and most beautiful in the series.
“Tell Me Lies” really benefits from the fact that it focuses on all of its characters, and you can see it for yourself every Tuesday on Hulu.
