I don't know if HBO's Big Little Lies needs a second season, probably not. It'd be great if it stayed one perfect miniseries full of incredible performances, thrills, shocks, and one beautifully open-ended finale. But if HBO is committed with moving forward, the surest way to get someone like me to watch is hiring Andrea Arnold to direct the whole thing.
Arnold, the supremely talented director behind Fish Tank, Wuthering Heights, and American Honey, will direct the 7-episode second season. This is huge even if most people don't know who the heck Arnold is, because it hopefully means she'll be getting more high-profile gigs. She'll have a great returning cast to work with as Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Alexander Skarsgard (in flashback, I hope??) and Laura Dern are all coming back, and she'll have support from original series director Jean-Marc Vallee as a producer, and David E. Kelley is writing the scripts again.
Is it too much to hope Arnold lures some of her previous leading ladies, maybe Kaya Scodelario and Sasha Lane, for roles? No way she could drag Katie Jarvis out of retirement, is there?
The prior season ended with the cops keeping an eye on the women of Monterey, who have conspired to hide a crime. Here's hoping this doesn't turn too much into a crime procedural. That's what I tune into True Detective for. [Deadline]
