The emotional rollercoaster that was Tell Me Lies season 2 ended on October 16, 2024, and fans are clamoring for more episodes. Based on Carola Lovering's novel of the same name, the Hulu drama follows the toxic on-again, off-again relationship between Lucy Albright (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White), who met as students during Lucy's freshman year at the fictional Baird College. As the years go on, their relationship devolves into a mess, as they occasionally cheat on their respective partners with each other.
Season 2 concluded with a wild, explosive finale that promises season 3 will deal with the fallout of a decade-long revenge plot. Below, read on for everything we know about the future of Tell Me Lies so far.
Has 'Tell Me Lies' been renewed for season 3?
Tell Me Lies will officially be back for another season. (Even Hulu knew that it couldn't end things on that cliffhanger.) The good news arrived on December 19, 2024, two months after season 2 ended its run.
The renewal news isn't a big surprise. Per The Hollywood Reporter, "Tell Me Lies remained on Hulu's on-screen 'Top 15 Today' list for more than 50 consecutive days during and after its season two run."
When will 'Tell Me Lies' season 3 come out?
Even with the news of Tell Me Lies' renewal arriving before the holidays, fans will have to wait a while for new episodes. Season 2 arrived on Hulu in September 2024, two years after season 1 debuted in October 2022. The streamer may choose to fast-track new episodes, but if season 3 follows the established schedule, new episodes will likely be out in fall 2026.
Who in the 'Tell Me Lies' cast would return for season 3?
Since Tell Me Lies wouldn't be the same without Lucy and Stephen, it's nearly guaranteed that Grace Van Patten and Jackson White would return for season 3. It's also likely that the rest of the main cast will reprise their roles, including Catherine Missal (Bree), Spencer House (Wrigley), Sonia Mena (Pippa), Branden Cook (Evan), Alicia Crowder (Diana), and Natalee Linez (Lydia).
As for one of the show's most shocking plot lines, Tom Ellis likely won't return as Oliver in season 3. Speaking with Variety, creator and executive producer Meaghan Oppenheimer revealed that the Lucifer actor (who is also Oppenheimer's husband in real life) was "just wanting to do one season," adding that she believes season 2 "wrapped up his storyline in a way that really worked."
However, it's likely that Gabriella Pession's Marianne will be back, as Oppenheimer says, "There’s a lot more story to tell with her."
What would 'Tell Me Lies' season 3 be about?
Spoilers for the Tell Me Lies season 2 finale ahead. In the season 2 finale, Stephen and Lucy's years-long toxicity comes to a head as Bree and Evan's wedding is about to start. After Lucy's boyfriend Max breaks up with her, she immediately runs to Stephen for comfort, but Stephen doesn't go with the (allegedly) happy ending. Instead, moments before Bree is about to walk down the aisle, Stephen texts Bree an eight-year-old audio recording of Evan confessing to cheating on her with Lucy at that Hawaiian college party. So there's that to deal with.
In addition to potentially starting the next season with a runaway bride scenario, the forthcoming episodes have many other dangling plot threads to follow. We still don't know how Stephen became engaged to Lucy's ex-bestie Lydia in the later timeline, nor how the illicit college affair between Bree and Oliver (and now Marianne) will conclude. There's also Pippa's journey in (hopefully) seeking justice for her assault and the shocking death of Wrigley's brother Drew. That's not to mention that as of season 2's end, nearly no one knows about Stephen's involvement in Macy's death.
Over the past two seasons, Tell Me Lies has expanded beyond its source novel, expanding the roles and storylines of several supporting characters, including the lead duo's friends. Still, the series mostly sticks to the basic events of the novel; season 1 covered about a third of the book's material, and season 2 has taken even more creative license over the book's plot. With many of the show's major characters (especially Lydia) on paths original to the show, odds are reading the book will only give minimal insight into what's ahead.
What has the cast and crew said about 'Tell Me Lies' season 3?
In a season 2 finale breakdown with Variety, Tell Me Lies' creator and executive producer Oppenheimer teased that season 3 may include a time jump with the new episodes likely focusing more on the 2015 timeline than the 2008 college days. (To be fair, we have way more questions about where the friend group ended up later.)
"I did map that out way in advance when I just thought about what the structure of the show was," Oppenheimer said of plans to include more 2015 scenes. "And I thought, we’ll get more and more of the future as time goes on. I think by the third season, we will still have some 2008 because there’s stuff that we have to wrap up there. But I think it would be a little bit shifted in the sense that there will probably be more 2015 than 2008."
Meanwhile, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, stars Van Patten and White (who are dating in real life) shared their thoughts on the bonkers finale cliffhanger and their characters' futures. "I could not believe that Stephen had recorded Evan saying that [he cheated on Bree with Lucy], and saved it for how many years? Eight years," Van Patten said of the moment, with White later adding that Stephen's revenge was "psychotic."
"The work this man had to go through to just hold a bomb for eight years… so much work," Van Patten continued. "That just went beyond my expectations of how manipulative he actually was. I really couldn’t believe that. I was also shocked, and I’m so curious, what would be in Meaghan’s head for a third season and what the rest of that wedding would look like."
When asked about his hopes for Stephen's future, White said, "I wonder if it would be cool to see Stephen completely stuck with nowhere to run to, nowhere to go. I don’t even know what that means, like no method of manipulating his way out of something. And then also, Meaghan said that there was an idea of a threesome with Wrigley and if that came up, I wouldn’t push against it. But we’ll see, fingers crossed."
