'Big Little Lies' Shares New Pics From Season 2 And A Summer Release Date

June cannot come too soon — the ‘Big Little Lies’ withdrawal is real

Get ready to say hello to Monterey once again, because HBO’s “Big Little Lies” will be back for its second season before we know it. Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie will all return to our television screens this June — in addition to some new faces around town.

(*cough* MERYL STREEP *cough*)

The highly anticipated second season wasn’t initially supposed to happen. The first season of the show is based entirely off of Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name, and the initial intent was for it to be a miniseries. But when showrunner David E. Kelley saw what a huge hit it was becoming, he and Moriarty and producer (and star) Reese Witherspoon got to work on creating a reprisal.

Witherspoon shared a few “sneak peek” shots of the upcoming season, and whew — it looks GOOD.

Also starring Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley, and Zoe Kravitz, the second season will pick up in the immediate aftermath of where the first season ended.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Following the, uh, tragic death of the abusive husband of one of the leading ladies, the second season will show everything that unfolds in the aftermath. One Ms. Meryl Streep will join the cast this year as the mother of the deceased, which is sure to add a scintillating dynamic to an already delicious plot.

Though the novel itself was just that — a one-time story — Moriarty helped keep the story going by writing a novella. “It helped that the characters were alive in her mind,” Witherspoon said at a press tour panel for the series yesterday.

With the addition of Streep’s character (Nicole Kidman’s character, Celeste is her daughter-in-law), it’ll be interesting to see how the relationships between all the women shift and evolve.

“It’s being able to delve more deeply into these women,” Kidman said at the press tour. “What’s been the incredible virtue of the series but also the incredibly difficult thing we’ve had to navigate is you don’t get [to explore] six women in [a television show] and follow their lives in these complicated ways.”

One thing the book and the show did exceptionally well was show how domestic violence can manifest itself and present itself in a variety of ways. And how, if you’re in a toxic relationship like that, even the people closest to you might not have any inkling how traumatic your life truly is.

Just because the perpetrator is now deceased, doesn’t mean the effects of the trauma he inflicted will disappear. According to Witherspoon, it will still be a pivotal plot point. “We’ve talked about trauma; we’ve experienced trauma; we see each others’ trauma — but how do we cope with it, how do we go on?”

While the show certainly touches on deeper, darker elements — it’s also just a brilliant, engaging show about female relationships and the different family dynamics of the rich housewives of Monterey. It’s perfect TV, and we’re pumped it’ll be the show of the summer.