A third season of the award-winning drama series Big Little Lies is now in development.
According to Deadline, Francesca Sloane has been tapped to write the first episode and she will also act as executive producer alongside series creator David E Kelley. Sloane is best known for co-creating Amazon’s Mr and Mrs Smith series with Donald Glover. Her credits also include writing for Atlanta and Fargo.
The news comes on the same day that Deadline also reported an indefinite delay to the second season of Mr and Mrs Smith which had been supposed to star Anora’s Mark Eydelshteyn and the Yellowjackets actor Sophie Thatcher.
There is no cast confirmation but it is expected stars Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman will return as both actors and executive producers. Last year Kidman said things were moving at a “fast and furious” pace and that she had been “texting every day” with Witherspoon.
Witherspoon claimed that there would be more input from Liane Moriarty, whose book was adapted for the first season. “She’s going to be turning in something very soon,” she said. “We’re back to the original author, and we’re going to go back to the original characters.”
Kelley also spoke about an overall enthusiasm to make it happen. “You need to corral a lot of high-caliber talent and their publicists, but everyone is very committed to it,” he said.
The first season of Big Little Lies, which followed a group of rich women living in California, was a hit with critics and audiences, winning five Emmys and four Golden Globes. But the second season, which introduced Meryl Streep, was seen by many as inferior, with no major award wins and mixed reviews.