As Tell Me Lies continues its third season on Hulu, creator and showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer is fully aware of just how closely audiences are watching and how deeply invested they’ve become. While the series has always leaned into emotional messiness and moral gray areas, Season 3 pushes those tensions even further as fan theories, online discourse, and character scrutiny reach new heights.
One thing that has genuinely surprised Oppenheimer is how accurately viewers have learned to anticipate where the story is headed.
“I was surprised that people, a lot of people, predicted Diana’s storyline last year,” she said. “They saw that reveal and that bummed me out. I’m not going to lie. I was sad that our audience is so smart.”
Even when twists are guessed ahead of time, Oppenheimer says she values the passion behind those reactions. “I love seeing the audience. I mean, I love how passionately they respond. It makes me very happy.”
That intensity, however, has not always translated into empathy, particularly toward the show’s female characters. Oppenheimer admitted she has been surprised by how harshly some storylines have been received.
“I’ve been mostly surprised at how hard the audience has been at times on some of the female characters,” she said. “The way that they’ve reacted to Lucy being very angry at her, that has surprised me. And also the way that they have reacted to Brie last season two. A lot of people did not see her as being such a victim with the Oliver situation, which I found to be quite shocking because to me, she’s clearly a victim there.”
Pippa & Diana Enter the Chat
Season 3 also continues to expand the show’s queer storytelling, particularly through the relationship between Pippa and Diana. Oppenheimer said the pairing emerged naturally rather than as a deliberate attempt to check a box.
“I obviously was aware that it was bringing representation to the show and that I was very happy about that and that mattered to me,” she explained. “But the most important thing to me was not have their storyline be about that. I wanted to make sure that it was just a three-dimensional storyline that had as much depth as any other relationship.”
ALICIA CROWDER
That decision was shaped by years of conversations with queer friends who felt television often reduces LGBTQ relationships to a single conflict. “I think a lot of times, a lot of my queer friends have complained about on TV… that it’s someone wanting to hide their sexuality and it’s always about that,” she said. “And when in real life, those relationships are so much more complicated than that and just as full-dimensional as any other relationship.”
For Oppenheimer, allowing queer characters to exist without their sexuality being the sole source of conflict was essential. “Diana isn’t necessarily ready for this relationship, but not because it’s a gay relationship, because of everything else she’s dealing with,” she said.
What’s New in Season 3
Season 3 of Tell Me Lies picks up with Lucy and Stephen once again pulled back into each other’s orbit as spring semester begins at Baird College, despite promising themselves things would be different. Old wounds, past betrayals, and unresolved power dynamics quickly resurface, drawing Lucy into a controversy she wants no part of and forcing their entire friend group to confront the consequences of the previous year. As secrets spread across campus and tensions escalate, the season explores how patterns repeat, how damage lingers, and how even the best intentions can unravel when people refuse to truly change.
JACKSON WHITE, GRACE VAN PATTEN
When it comes to the long-term shape of Tell Me Lies, Oppenheimer described a balance between structure and flexibility. She has always known the broad arc of the series, even as individual character paths evolve.
“I’ve always had the overall beginning, middle, and end of the series in my head,” she said, noting that details shift from season to season. “My worst nightmare is going into a writer’s room and being like, so what’s happening this season?”
Season three of Tell Me Lies is now streaming weekly on Hulu, and according to its creator, nothing happening on screen is accidental. So stay alert!