'Big Little Lies' Returns to Production, but Only for a Single Day

Few TV comebacks have been teased as long as ‘Big Little Lies’ Season 3. The HBO drama premiered on February 19, 2017, as a limited series about 5 women caught up in a Monterey murder investigation. It was extended into a second season that wrapped in July 2019, and fans have been asking about more ever since.

The wait has been full of mixed signals. Zoë Kravitz once said the show was finished after the death of director Jean-Marc Vallée, while HBO’s own executives called a third season unrealistic back in 2019. Then Nicole Kidman revealed in November 2023 that it could be happening, and the speculation never really stopped.

This week brought the most concrete sign of movement yet, though with a major catch. According to an exclusive from Variety, production on the long-awaited Season 3 began on Thursday, but only for 1 day. The cameras rolled at Warner Bros. Studios Burbank’s The Ranch Lot, and recurring cast member Merrin Dungey, who has played Detective Adrienne Quinlan since the series launched, was among those on camera.

The short shoot appears to be a strategic move rather than a creative one. Insiders told the outlet that the day of principal photography was scheduled to preserve the show’s California state tax credit, which has already been approved. Under the state’s incentive rules, principal photography has to begin within 180 calendar days of the allocation letter, or 240 days for projects with budgets of $100 million or more.

In other words, the production needed to start filming to keep its financial incentive. Executive producer David E. Kelley has also been a vocal supporter of keeping the series in California. The strategy lets the show hold on to its tax benefits without committing to a full shoot.

Full production isn’t expected to start until next year, and no date has been locked. HBO hasn’t officially announced the start of production and declined to comment on the report. A director for the season hasn’t been confirmed either, although insiders said the person behind the camera this week was already involved with the series and has been approved by the Directors Guild of America.

That timeline is a little different from earlier expectations. Kelley said at SXSW that filming was on track to start in the fall, and a one-day shoot technically fits that description. The bigger production push simply appears to be waiting for scheduling and logistics to line up.

The creative groundwork, meanwhile, is well underway. Francesca Sloane, the co-creator of ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’, is writing the first episode and executive producing alongside Kelley, Kidman and Reese Witherspoon. The new season is also expected to draw on author Liane Moriarty’s novel ‘Big Little Truths’, which would give it fresh source material after the second season was built on original storylines.

On the casting side, Witherspoon, Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern and Zoë Kravitz have all expressed interest in returning, and Woodley celebrated the news on Instagram in 2025 with a post saying the group was back. Reports at the time suggested contracts hadn’t yet been signed, and getting all 5 leads in the same place at the same time has long been described as the main hurdle. The brief shoot this week hasn’t changed that picture.

For viewers, the news is a mix of excitement and patience. It shows that the project is moving forward and that HBO and the producers are taking steps to protect its financing. At the same time, it makes clear that the real work is still ahead.

Kidman has previously said the new chapter will explore the characters’ lives as their children grow up, which opens the door to a very different kind of drama from the original murder mystery. With a new source novel, a new writer and a cast that has stayed close, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. Still, a single day of filming is far from a release window, and a premiere is almost certainly still a long way off.

Until HBO makes an official announcement, the Monterey Five’s return remains one of television’s most intriguing waiting games.