‘Tell Me Lies’ Creator on Finale Death, Season 3 and Leo/Stephen’s Tattoos

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from the Season 2 finale of “Tell Me Lies,” now streaming on Hulu.

Season 2 of “Tell Me Lies” came crashing to an end — in both the 2008 and the 2015 timelines. In an attempt to sum up everything that happened: Stephen (Jackson White) and Diana (Alicia Crowder) broke up — an idea she made him think was his doing, but she’d been planning all along to get him away. (No, her dad never turned off her credit cards!) There was no sadness at all for Stephen, who immediately slept with Lucy (Grace Van Patten). Right after that hookup, Lucy went back to Leo (Thomas Doherty) and slept with him — without even changing her underwear. That tidbit came in hand for Stephen later when he brought up what she was wearing to prove to Leo they’d hooked up hours before and led to Leo punching him repeatedly until his face was unrecognizable.

Then there were Bree (Catherine Missal) and Oliver (Tom Ellis), who were finally caught by Marianne (Gabriella Pession)… except she’d known all along, since she and her husband were in an open relationship and had just decided not to tell Bree that. (Bree also delivered the best line of the episode, yelling at Oliver, “You don’t get to fuck me like I’m an adult then talk to me like I’m a child.”)

And those weren’t even the most dramatic storylines. Pippa (Sonia Mena) and Diana got ahold of Drew (Benjamin Wadsworth), who finally returned to campus to see Wrigley (Spencer House). But after a night of partying and taking Wrigley’s pills, Drew overdosed and died on his brother’s couch. After his death, Lucy felt so guilty for being the one to write the letter that got Drew kicked out of school that she wanted to come clean. Stephen decided to take the blame instead, appearing to do so for Lucy — but, obviously, since he’s Stephen, doing it to have something to hold over her head down the line.

Speaking of doing that, after Stephen and Lucy got back together, Evan (Branden Cook) decided he had to tell him that Lucy was the one he slept with last year. After going outside to get fresh air, he came back in and, without Evan knowing, recorded him saying it again: He cheated on Bree with Lucy.

Flash forward to 2015: It’s Bree and Evan’s wedding day. Stephen cheats on Lydia with Lucy, then sends Bree the voice note. In the final moments of the episode, Bree is shown moments before walking down the aisle, listening to Evan’s confession, while Lucy, her bridesmaid, stands next to her, unaware.

After awarding Stephen with being possibly the worst character on television, we chatted with show creator and executive producer Meaghan Oppenheimer, who broke down the key moments and teased what’s to come after all of that.

Let’s go back to the penultimate episode — Lucy says she was assaulted by Lydia’s brother, Chris, ending her friendship with Lydia. What was the conversation like about making that the reason Lydia hated her?

Before the room started, I knew that Lucy would be on this failed redemption arc, and I knew that I needed whatever that rift was between her and Lydia to be because she tried to do the right thing, but did the wrong thing for the right reason. It really divided the room — Lucy claiming the assault for herself. It was probably the most contentious day in the room and that’s why I was like, “Well, we have to do it.”

There are always some writers who feel like we need to put more of a positive example on screen than others. I am really of the belief of just doing what is honest. We’re not supposed to be guiding anyone, or telling people this is how to behave. Some people really felt that lying about sexual assault is one of the worst things that a woman can do — that it would just be completely unforgivable for Lucy to do that. I really wanted to test that, and see if we can have her do the wrong thing for the right reason, and have people kind of understand.

Bree and Oliver’s relationship came to quite an end. Will we see Tom Ellis back in the future?

I don’t think so. I think Tom was just wanting to do one season. I think that we wrapped up his storyline in a way that really worked for me. I don’t know where else we would go after that with him. I think we could bring Marianne back, maybe. There’s a lot more story to tell with her. But I think we kind of learned that Oliver is so broken and hollow by the end of this season that I’m ready for Bree to be done with him.

One of the main reasons that I wanted to do the show in the first place is to debunk this myth that only weak or stupid women get tricked by narcissists and bad people. That only silly women get run over by love. It happens to the strongest of us. Some of the most incredible women I know, their one weak spot is a man or relationships. There’s something so vulnerable about that. I don’t know what it is about wanting to be loved that makes us forget ourselves.

At her engagement party, Bree gets a contentious call from someone. At the time, it seemed like it could be Oliver. Or maybe Stephen?

I can’t say, because that would be a reveal in a later season. But it’s not Stephen and it’s not Oliver.

Jumping to Wrigley’s heart-wrenching arc this season. In the pilot, it was hinted that Drew is no longer around. When did you decide how/when Drew would return and ultimately die?

During Season 1, I thought that it would be the ending of Season 1, and then there was too much, and we didn’t need it. So I always knew he was going to die. Ben is so great and so lovely that when we started the writers’ room for Season 2, I was like, “Is there any way we can have him around?” It didn’t make sense any other way. I really wanted Wrigley to be destroyed by the end of the season. I know that’s so terrible to say! We’ve seen him in the future, and I wanted to understand why he’d gotten to that point, because he is clearly a mess in the future years.

At the wedding, Wrigley mentions that it’s time to let go of his crush. I just want to confirm — that’s about Pippa?

Yeah. I think he was always holding out hope.

Wrigley and Pippa slept together in the penultimate episode — before he outted her. Was that the last time we’ll see them together romantically?

I think that what’s so sad about Pippa’s journey in this season, is that it gets halted once again. Because she’s not going to be able to completely break away from Wrigley in the way that she, I think, probably wants to now, because he’s gone through this huge tragedy. She probably gets back with him, at least for a little while after this, because he needs her so much, and she loves him so much as a friend. She doesn’t want to be another thing that breaks his heart. But of course, it’s really unfortunate for her and her growth, because it’s another thing that is just halting that progression.

Moving forward, assuming we get more seasons, will we see how Pippa and Diana get together?

I’m not really sure. I think it depends how far we go in the 2008 storyline. I think we would probably see Pippa coming out, because when we leave them in 2008, she’s so much further in that journey than Diana is. She’s already aware that she has those feelings. And Diana, I really don’t think, is. I think she knows she’s feeling something for Pippa, but I don’t think she’s labeled it or been honest with herself about it at all. So it just depends. But I don’t know that we would see Diana’s, because Pippa and Diana definitely don’t get together until after college. They’re not hooking up during college.

How and when did you decide to have Diana turn on Stephen?

I hope no one saw that coming. It’s funny, before we got greenlit officially for Season 2, Hulu called me and said they really wanted to give the greenlight but wanted to make sure we had enough ideas. So I had, like, 48 hours to bullshit some stuff and that was one of the things I came up with — that Diana orchestrates this entire plot to get away from Stephen. I think she begins in earnest in Episode 4, when she finds Stephen’s photos of Macy. That’s when she knows she has to get the fuck out of there.

Let’s talk about Lucy sleeping with Stephen again, then sleeping with Leo… which led to quite a nasty confrontation.

[The Leo and Lucy] scene was really hard to film, because it all had to play on Grace’s face. It’s about Lucy’s own shame in that moment, and just not wanting to lose Leo. She’s desperate, she doesn’t want to hurt his feelings or say no to him, but thinking, “I just fucked Stephen an hour ago.” We kept doing that scene to get to a place where we were sure she wasn’t grossed out by Leo, but by herself. We used the last take. It plays like a horror movie.

And then the fight really plays like a horror movie.

My parents are gonna be so proud when they hear the line, “How does my cum taste?” Grace actually came up to me and said, “So we’re saying I have sex with Stephen, and then put on the same underwear?” I think she did. It’s something that drives through the panic attack she’s having. Lucy isn’t thinking clearly. She’s running from her decision to sleep with Stephen and looking for a safe place. It’s heartbreaking, and I hope people don’t hate her, but people are just really hard on women.

When you’re mapping out the future, how much more of the college years do you want to show? Going forward, will we get more of the 2015 and less of 2008?

I did map that out way in advance when I just thought about what the structure of the show was. 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.

Would there also be a time jump when Season 3 returns or would it be next semester?

I think there would probably be a time jump.

Lastly, social media has been abuzz about Leo and Stephen both having a rose tattoo and whether that hints at some sort of past connection. Is that part of the story?

Someone just told me about the tattoo speculation! Those are just their real tattoos. Two actors with the same tattoo. Total coincidence.

This interview has been edited and condensed.