(Spoiler alert: Please don’t read on if you haven’t watched the series finale of “Big Little Lies.”)
HBO’s limited series “Big Little Lies” concluded on Sunday night with a shocking finale that tied up the show’s main mystery. That hasn’t stopped Nicole Kidman from arguing for a second season.
“The backstory of Bonnie is complicated, and not fully explored, which is probably why we need to do a season 2,” she told Entertainment Weekly about Zoe Kravitz’s character. “It indicates that every woman is holding some sort of secret or damage or something and that’s not fully explored. We don’t have any plans for a season 2 but the beauty of this is there are so many deep stories here that are ripe for mining. There are so many different ways to go with all of these women. This is such a small portion of their lives but I love that people have connected to them in such a deep way. And everyone in different ways to different women.”
Kidman played Celeste Wright, a former lawyer who on the surface looks happy with her husband Perry (Alexander Skarsgard), but beneath the beautiful house and the adorable kids, there’s darkness: He abuses her to the point where she has to hide her bruises and she thinks about leaving him.
“There were days and days of doing a lot of aggressive, really violent scenes,” she continued. “And I would go home and have a shower or have a bath and I would weep at home. And it would be like, ‘Oh my gosh, what is happening to me?’ And then one day, I just got a rock and threw it through a glass door! Yes. Where I was staying. And I threw a rock. I must have had a lot of pent-up [stress], because I was trying to hold it all in. I’ve never done that in my life. And then I just started crying and crying and crying. It just penetrated my psyche in a way a film never had.”
The actress, who was recently Oscar-nominated for “Lion,” also shared that the role took a physical toll on her.
“My body was in pain,” she said. “That’s how I describe it. I don’t usually take Advil and I would take Advil. I was living through it. I felt the necessity to do that for the truth of this story, which I feel is a very important story to tell. It’s insidious how these things happen. The things that start to become normal when they aren’t normal and the things we allow. And how a relationship can morph into where both people in it are not bad people. And he is very sick. He’s not well.”
“Big Little Lies” also starred Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, the show was based on the book by Liane Moriarty.
Whether there will be a second season is kind of left up in air — it was always intentioned to be a limited series, but Witherspoon recently mentioned there were brief talks for a season 2.
'Big Little Lies' Main Characters Ranked by Friendship Potential (Photos)
HBO's "Big Little Lies" has kind of, sort of, a little taken over our lives the past couple of months. At this point, we're just counting down the days to the season finale and instead of twiddling our thumbs, we ranked the series' main characters by how likely we are to be friends with them. Why? Because.
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Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) We love Jane and she hasn't given us a reason to dislike her as of yet. I mean, what could you really say about her? She's sweet, funny when she wants to be, keeps to herself and takes great care of her son, Ziggy. Plus, she sort of punched Renata when she kept messing with her family so we know she'll always have our back.
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Ziggy Chapman (Iain Armitage) Such a sweet, well-behaved and quiet boy. Poor thing had a rough start at school because kids are mean and parents are even meaner. But overall, Ziggy is a chill kid, and who doesn't love chill kids?
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Chloe Mackenzie (Darby Camp) This is one soulful kid. She likes David Bowie and Leon Bridges, and her music taste is just way beyond her years. She's also the most popular kid in school -- and we always wanna befriend the most popular kid in school.
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Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) Perry is ruining Celeste's potential, but other than her abusive no-good husband, home girl is fine in our book. She's always there for her friends and she's a bad mama jamma when it comes to lawyering.
She's smart, self-aware and civil even when she feels like cutting a hoe.
Plus, she decked Perry a couple of good ones when he hit her before. Yaasss boo.
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Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) Awww Ed. Sweet, nurturing and understanding Ed. Not gonna lie, Ed seems like a boring friend, but he's always just there to comfort you whenever you need it. It also doesn't help that Madeline doesn't seem to appreciate him much. It's all good Ed, we still love and appreciate you. Keep doing you.
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Madeline Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) Madeline's cool, but she can get a tad bit annoying at times. Sorry, boo. She's likes to meddle in other people's business too much, but we can also appreciate her for sticking her nose in the whole Ziggy/Jane vs. Renata/Amabella situation and having her friend's back.
But she's also petty -- planning an entire alternate outing just to spite Renata by having no one go to her kid's birthday party? A little extreme.
Plus, she cheated on her husband, Ed, and doesn't seem to care for him. Poor Ed.
Like she's cool, but we definitely wouldn't put anything past her.
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Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) Bonnie is dope and all and seems to be really open-minded, laid back and understanding but ... All that bohemian, organic "let's all talk our feelings out and embrace each others' energies" stuff will definitely get somebody punched real soon.
But like we wouldn't mind going to a yoga class or something with her.
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Nathan Carlson (James Tupper) Ummm ... what can we really say about Nathan? He was a big eff up in the past and now he's just trying to do right by his family, and can we really blame him for that? He seems cool. We wouldn't mind grabbing a beer or something with the dude.
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Abigail Carlson (Kathryn Newton) It might be the whole teenager thing, but we don't care much for Abigail. She's kind of inconsiderate and has too much of a smart mouth. Sure, she has some good moments but for the most part we don't like her.
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Renata Klein (Laura Dern) Ugh. Get a grip, Renata. She's like a helicopter parent and just a grown up high school mean girl. We get it, she's trying to protect her child but she's just too much. It's cool that she kinda seemed to be able to talk things out with Jane and come to an understanding, but overall she just seems fake.
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Gordon Klein (Jeffrey Nordling) We don't know too much about Renata's hubby other than the fact that he has some wandering eyes. Renata also alluded to the idea that he cheated on her with their therapist or nanny or whomever. Overall, he just seems meh and boring.
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Perry Wright (Alexander Skarsgård) Boooooo Perry! This dude has no redeeming qualities because ... just, NO. At first he appeared to be this loving and thoughtful husband, but that was all a damn lie. Bye, Perry.
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Yes, even the kids are judged
HBO's "Big Little Lies" has kind of, sort of, a little taken over our lives the past couple of months. At this point, we're just counting down the days to the season finale and instead of twiddling our thumbs, we ranked the series' main characters by how likely we are to be friends with them. Why? Because.