It's been almost 10 years since the world became absolutely enthralled with Celeste Wright, Jane Chapman, and Madeline Mackenzie — the three suburban moms living in affluent Monterrey, California, whose worlds get turned upside-down when a dramatic death occurs at a school fundraiser. Yes, we're talking about Big Little Lies, the hit TV show starring Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Zoë Kravitz, and Shailene Woodley, which took HBO by storm and won a whopping 8 Emmys. The show was based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty, an instant New York Times bestseller that ushered in an explosion of the domestic thriller subgenre. Why are we bringing up all this ancient history? Because a second Big Little Lies book is officially coming — and with it, another season of the show.
When is the Big Little Lies sequel coming out?
On March 19, Crown Publishing announced Moriarty's next book: Big Little Truths, the sequel to Big Little Lies. The novel will follow the same women as the original — Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie — only now, we've skipped ahead 10 years and their children are in high school. In addition to dealing with all the challenges of teenage years, their wealthy Australian suburb is once again thrown into chaos when a strange man starts lurking around the high school, asking suspicious questions — and then the principal receives a severed finger in the mail.
“I found it such a joy to return to this beachside town with Celeste, Madeline and Jane,” Moriarty said in a statement. “Of course I’ve changed since I wrote Big Little Lies, and the world has changed, so it was fascinating to think about how these characters might have changed too, especially as they deal with the challenges of raising teens.”
Big Little Truths will hit bookshelves on August 25, 2026, so mark your calendars — or, better yet, hit that preorder button.
When does season 3 of Big Little Lies come out?
But we're not just getting another Big Little Lies book (and to quote the upcoming Passover holiday, that would have been enough) — we have new details about a third season of Big Little Lies. Yes, it's officially happening! Crown announced in a press release, "for viewers of the series, there’s more to come: Big Little Truths is set to be adapted as the third season of HBO’s Big Little Lies, with the full cast expected to return."
We don't have an exact release date yet, but USA Today reports that the cast says it's "imminent." If you're as hungry for more of this friend group as we are, back in September you were the first in your friend group to find out that Mr. and Mrs. Smith co-creator Francesca Sloane was tapped to write the season 3 pilot. Sloane is also an executive producer, along with David E. Kelley, Nicole Kidman, and Reese Witherspoon.
What is the plot of Big Little Lies season 3?
Big Little Truths will serve as the source material for the third season of Big Little Lies. One interesting aspect about the new book is that the children are key figures this time around. In the first book, the parents at the school serve as a sort of Greek chorus, explaining what happened, Moriarty dished to USA Today. "In this book, the teenagers — the kids — are the Greek chorus," she said. "So they're being interviewed about what happened. So the first thing that happens is they say, ‘Well, it all began at Madeline's 50th birthday.'"
Although Moriarty has said she likes to be "hands-off" when it comes to the TV adaptation, the show did influence her writing. “It’s all Laura Dern’s fault because she was so amazing as Renata, it was impossible for me to not give her a bigger role also in this book,” she said. “You couldn’t put Renata in a corner.”
