Updated Jan. 24, 2018, 2:30 p.m. PT: Are you sitting down? Because I have some amazing news to tell you:Meryl Streep is coming to Big Little Lies.
Deadline was among the first to announce on Wednesday that Streep would be joining the heavily-awarded HBO hit series. The outlet also confirmed Streep would be tackling one of the most tantalizing new characters slated to join the series, Perry’s mother, Mary Louis Wright. Oh gosh, you can practically feel the WASP-iness dripping off that name. Will Mary Louise be wearing pearls when we meet her? Will she prefer an afternoon drink? Will she be a grandma who smothers her grandkids? All we know right now is that Mary Louise is coming to Monterey shortly after Perry’s murder, which means she will no doubt be sniffing around for answers. This can only lead to one thing. Major. Drama.
The same day as the announcement, Big Little Lies star Nicole Kidman (who plays Perry’s widow) took to her Instagram to post her own warm welcome to Streep using a photo of them from the 2018 SAG Awards. Look at this costar love unfolding right before our eyes:
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Streep was recently nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award for her performance as Katherine Graham in The Post. This will be her first major TV role in six years, following a short recurring arc on the TV series Web Therapy and before that as part of HBO’s 2003 adaptation of Tony Kushner’s epic play Angels in America.
Original story, published Jan. 8, 2018: With Big Little Lies freshly minted as both a major award-winning drama and also a formidable and addictive show that promises drama in every moment, there’s a lot of speculation about how the show will stick the landing in Season 2. With expectations high, it’s only fair to expect Season 2 to pack and even bigger emotional wallop as new situations come together and new tensions are brought out into the open.
More: Am I the Only One Who Found Big Little Lies Boring & Weird?
And now, in this post-Golden Globes glow, we have some more exciting news about Big Little Lies Season 2 that all but confirms things are going to take a dramatic turn. Big Little Lies executive producer (and Season 1 director) Jean-Marc Vallée teased a new character coming to Monterey while speaking to Entertainment Tonight at the Golden Globes.
“[T]here’s a new character coming,” Vallée began. “Perry’s mother, that’s all I can say.”
Oh, it may not sound like that juicy a sound-bite, but believe you me, if Perry was anything like his mother, then his mother is one heck of a pill. We don’t know that much about Perry’s life growing up, nor do we know anything about his parents or the kind of marriage they had. The arrival of Perry’s mother will surely add some intensity to Celeste’s storylines, as Celeste is likely still grappling with the fallout of Perry’s death and beginning her life afresh with her twin boys.
More: Is Big Little Lies Season 2 Actually a Good Idea?
And no matter what Perry’s mother is like personality-wise, it feels almost guaranteed she is going to be nosing around Monterey and Celeste’s friend group for answers about what happened to her son. When we left them in Season 1, it felt like the women had pulled off the perfect cover-up; it’s highly unlikely their facade will remain intact in Season 2. Something is going to feel amiss, and if Big Little Lies has proven anything to us in the past, it’s that a mother always knows when something is wrong with her child.
Basically, Celeste’s life just got way more complicated.
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There’s no word yet on who will play Perry’s mother, and I’ll have to go one step further and shoot down your hopes of speculative casting, because nobody’s appeared to even be in talks or auditioning (that we know of). Even without a face to put to the name, it’s hard not to feel your blood run cold just thinking about what lies ahead for Celeste and Co. when Perry’s mother arrives.
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