There seems to be a disconnect when it comes to miniseries vs limited series vs just a plain old television show. There aren’t many hard and fast rules and it seems like any “limited” series can turn into a regular series if the demand is there. We’ve seen it with The White Lotus, which became an anthology series with season two. The HBO show was originally supposed to just have one season, and instead, there are now two Jennifer Coolidge-led seasons for fans. This isn’t the first time this has happened, and it probably won’t be the last. But when does it become too much?
HBO’s 2017 drama series Big Litle Lies had a similar story: the first season, based on the novel of the same name, was meant to be standalone, with a concrete storyline that ended in the finale. The all-star cast consisted of Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, Zoe Kravtiz, and Adam Scott, and soon became a fan favorite. The show was such a huge hit that HBO thought it would be crazy to not make some more episodes, so a second season was ordered with Meryl Streep (!!) joining the cast.
There were some unfinished plotlines in season two: did the group ever confess? What happened to the ice cream that was chucked at Meryl Streep?! So much was left unanswered that it seemed like maybe, one day, we would get a third season, though that might not be happening anytime soon.
Kravtiz told GQ that a third season might not be in the cards. “I don’t think it is [returning],” Kravitz said in TikTok from GQ. “We talked about doing a season three a lot and, unfortunately, Jean-Marc Valle, our incredible director, passed away this last year and I just can’t imagine going on without him.” Valle passed away last December after a heart attack. “He really was the visionary for that show. So, unfortunately, it’s done,” Kravtiz concluded.
Even though there are no plans for a third season, the show was never officially canceled per se, so maybe we will get to see what those Monterey women get up to…in another decade or so. Maybe.