HBO has released a full-length trailer for Big Little Lies season 2. Created and written by David E. Kelley (who drew from the novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty), Big Little Lies season 1 revolved a group of women living their lives and trying to hold onto their sanity in the gossipy city of Monterey, California. The season’s larger narrative was framed around the local police investigation of a suspicious death and the events leading up to it, but was far more interested in exploring its characters and their struggles than building up the murder mystery at its core. And by all measures, it was a hit, earning good viewer numbers, great reviews, and lots of awards for its efforts.
While it was originally intended to be a limited series when it premiered in February 2017, the first season’s success ultimately led to an additional seven episodes being green-lit by HBO. Big Little Lies season 2 was also written by Kelley, but featured Fish Tank and American Honey director Andrea Arnold at the helm instead of season 1’s Jean-Marc Vallée. Now, with just a month to go before season 2’s premiere in June, HBO has unveiled an extended preview that dives deeper into the new season’s story threads.
The Big Little Lies season 2 trailer is now online, and will undoubtedly be airing on the network throughout the rest of May (especially on Sunday nights, as Game of Thrones finishes it run). You can check it out in the space below.
As the trailer illustrates, Big Little Lies season 2 will build on the season 1 finale, as the show’s main characters struggle to keep a lid on their biggest little lie yet; namely, how Celeste’s (Nicole Kidman) abusive husband Perry (Alexander Skarsgård) really died. Naturally, Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz) will be having the hardest time dealing with this out of the show’s five women leads, especially since Detective Quinlan (Merrin Dungey) has yet to let up on her investigation into the now so-called Monterey Five. Elsewhere, Celeste is trying to process a whole menagerie of emotions when Perry’s mother Mary Louise (Meryl Streep) comes waltzing into town to “help” Celeste… and yes, uncover the truth about her son’s death. And even after everything she went through in season 1, it looks like Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) will continue her reign as Monterey’s alpha mom in the episodes to come (thankfully).
So far, season 2 looks and sounds promising enough, especially with Streep joining the party. At the same time, season 1 was a pretty self-contained piece of storytelling, so there’s definitely a risk season 2 will feel like an unnecessary continuation or even a shadow of what made season 1 great. Still, the show’s leads - Renata (Laura Dern) and Jane (Shailene Woodley) included - seem as compelling as before in this new footage, and still have plenty of baggage that needs unpacking after season 1. It’ll also be interesting to see how season 2 compares to its predecessor in terms of direction, and how much Arnold does and doesn’t stray from Vallée’s style in season 1.
Big Little Lies season 2 premieres Sunday, June 9 on HBO.
Source: HBO
