'Big Little Lies' author teases Season 3 plot based on upcoming book (Exclusive)

One book and two seasons weren’t enough for fans of “Big Little Lies.” 

The good news? There will be more. Best-selling author Liane Moriarty has announced “Big Little Truths,” a sequel set 10 years after the events of the first book, is coming on Aug. 25.

The book will be the basis of Season 3 of "Big Little Lies," the Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman-produced HBO series in which they star alongside Laura Dern, Zoe Kravitz and Shailene Woodley as the incendiary group of wealthy moms at the center of a murder investigation. In “Big Little Truths,” those women will return, but it's their children, now teenagers, who play the biggest role.

In an exclusive interview with USA TODAY, Moriarty shares what she’s excited for fans to see in the next book and season.

Why Liane Moriarty waited to write a ‘Big Little Lies’ sequel 

Moriarty felt fans' demand to expand the “Big Little Lies” universe, but wasn't ready until now. The novel came out in 2014 and was adapted into the hit show that debuted in 2017. Moriarty wrote an unpublished novella to serve as the basis of 2019's Season 2, the aftermath of the murder. 

“Right from the beginning, because of the show, there was talk about writing a sequel, but I was never interested right away because you put your characters through so much and it just didn’t make sense to me to write something that followed on directly,” Moriarty says. “A time jump always made sense to me.”

Her children were young when she wrote “Big Little Lies,” similar ages to the classroom crew of Ziggy, Amabella and Chloe. As they grew, she started contemplating a new story from their perspective.

“I had to wait for my children to become teenagers, and then they did. And there was a wealth of new material there,” Moriarty says, laughing. 

In “Big Little Truths,” the kids are now in high school ("goodbye playdates, hello drugs, sex, and alcohol," the book's description reads), reconnecting at Madeline’s 50th birthday party. A strange man has been lurking around the school, asking "supposedly innocent questions."

“Their principal’s office receives a severed finger in the mail,” Moriarty says, of the plot’s inciting incident. “In the first book, the parents at the school, they provide the Greek chorus explaining the action and what happened. In this book, the teenagers − the kids − are the Greek chorus. 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.’ ”

Getting to know the young characters as teenagers was “the best part of writing the book,” Moriarty says. In what ways are they their parents’ children? How are they bucking their upbringing? Similarly rewarding was slipping back into familiar older characters. 

“Normally when I start to write a book, I'm getting to know the characters as I write them,” Moriarty says. Here, she recalls thinking: “Oh, here you are, Madeline. I know exactly how you'll react to this.”

How ‘Big Little Lies’ show and Laura Dern influenced Liane Moriarty’s writing

Season 3 of “Big Little Lies” is imminent, the cast has said, and Moriarty now confirms "Big Little Truths" will be the source material. It’s still early days, though she says she’s “very hands off” with the show.

“I always said I only ever wanted to be an interested bystander,” Moriarty says.

“Big Little Truths,” though, is wholly Moriarty. The team behind the series had no input on the plot or direction of the book. When she dipped back into the story, she needed to remind herself – and us – that there are some differences between the two. For one, the book is set in Australia, while the show takes place in California. And Madeline has an extra child, Fred, who was cut from the series. 

But Moriarty says she “can’t pretend” the series didn’t have some impact on her writing, notably the series’ all-star cast. 

“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,” Moriarty says. “You couldn’t put Renata in a corner.” 

Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter, or tell her what you’re reading at [email protected].