NEED TO KNOW
- New season of Big Little Lies will adapt Liane Moriarty’s latest novel, Big Little Truths.
- Big Little Truths is set 10 years after the original.
- Liane found returning to the characters “effortless” unlike most new novels where she misses her old characters.
- Filming hasn’t started; with a 2028 premiere most likely due to delays and cast scheduling conflicts.
It’s been seven years since season two of Big Little Lies, but we’ve finally got an update on season three.
Speaking exclusively to New Idea, author Liane Moriarty reveals when she expects production to kick off, but fans might be disappointed to know that a 2028 premiere is looking most likely.
“The hope is that it will begin filming next year,” she says, adding that the new season will be based on her latest novel, Big Little Truths.
For 12 years, book clubs everywhere have waited patiently for Liane to release the sequel to her bestselling 2014 novel, Big Little Lies.
Big Little Truths, which was finally released on August 25, is set 10 years after the original.
Now that it’s finally hit the shelves, the Sydney-based author admits she is filled with both dread and excitement!
“It was like meeting up with old friends in my old hometown,” she explains.
It also marks the first time Liane has written a sequel, which she confesses was relatively “effortless”.
“Often when I start a new novel, I miss the characters from my last book because I knew them so well. I loved the fact that I didn’t have to wait for them to come to life [here],” she shares.
That said, there were some challenges – namely living up to the expectations cast by the 2017 Big Little Lies TV adaptation.
Starring Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon, the series won eight Emmys and four Golden Globes.
It spawned a second season in 2019, which was based on an original novella that Liane wrote specifically for the small screen.
“It’s terrifying! I had to put it out of my mind and treat it as just another book,” she admits.
Liane admits that writing Big Little Truths after the series became a pop-culture phenomenon changed the way she viewed certain characters.
Laura Dern’s portrayal of Renata Klein especially impacted the character’s arc in Big Little Truths.
“I had to give her a bigger role. I was definitely influenced by Laura’s version of Renata as I wrote,” she teases.
However, Liane wants to remind readers that Big Little Truths is a sequel to her book, and is not the same as the show.
While the series is synonymous with the affluent Californian town of Monterey, Liane’s books are set in Pirriwee, a fictional beach town in Australia outside Sydney.
“Certain things that happened in the show have not happened in this particular universe,” she warns.
Big Little Truths is Liane’s 11th novel, but she has been writing stories for as long as she can remember.
In fact, she jokes that she netted her first publishing deal as a young girl when her father “commissioned” her to write a novel and offered an advance of $1.
Liane readily accepted and penned a three-part epic called The Mystery of Dead Man’s Island.
The eldest of six children, two of Liane’s sisters, Nicola and Jaclyn, are also successful authors.
Jaclyn’s latest novel, Time Travel for Beginners, hit shelves just a few weeks before Big Little Truths!
“It is an extraordinary book!” a proud Liane gushes.
“We do send each other our manuscripts and give each other feedback, although we mostly keep it extremely complimentary rather than critical.”
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