On the surface, in the tranquil seaside town of Monterey, California, everything seems the same. The mothers continue to dote, the husbands support, the children remain adorable and the houses are just as beautiful. But the night of the school fundraiser changed all that, leaving the community reeling as the “Monterey Five” – Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie – bond together to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.
Created by David E. Kelley, teleplays by David E. Kelley and story by Kelley and Liane Moriarty, and based on the novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Liane Moriarty, BIG LITTLE LIES returns for its seven-episode second season in June, exclusively on HBO. The new season explores the malignancy of lies, the durability of friendships, the fragility of marriage and, of course, the vicious ferocity of sound parenting. Relationships will fray, loyalties will erode…and the potential for emotional and bodily injury shall loom.
With all seven episodes directed and executive produced by Andrea Arnold (“Red Road,” “Fish Tank,” “Wuthering Heights,” “American Honey”; Oscar® winner for “Wasp”), BIG LITTLE LIES features teleplays by David E. Kelley (“Goliath,” “Mr. Mercedes”; 11-time Emmy® winner for “Picket Fences,” “LA Law,” “The Practice,” “Ally McBeal,” and “Big Little Lies”).
The show will also be available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.
The stellar cast includes: Reese Witherspoon (Oscar®, Golden Globe and SAG Award winner for “Walk the Line”; Oscar®, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominee for “Wild”); Nicole Kidman (Emmy®, Golden Globe and SAG Award winner for “Big Little Lies”; Oscar® winner for “The Hours”; Golden Globe winner for “To Die For,” “Moulin Rouge!” and “The Hours”); Shailene Woodley (Independent Spirit Award winner, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominee for “The Descendants”; “Adrift,” “The Fault in Our Stars”); Laura Dern (Oscar® nominee for “Wild” and “Rambling Rose”; Golden Globe winner for HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” “Enlightened,” “Recount,” and “Afterburn”; Emmy® winner for “Big Little Lies”); Zoë Kravitz (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “High Fidelity,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”); Meryl Streep (21-time Oscar® nominee; three-time Oscar® winner, for “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Sophie’s Choice” and “The Iron Lady”; four-time Golden Globe Award winner, for “The Iron Lady,” “Julie & Julia,” “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Adaptation”; Emmy®, Golden Globe and SAG Award winner for HBO’s “Angels in America”; Adam Scott (“Parks and Recreation,” “Black Mass”); James Tupper (“Men in Trees,” “Revenge”); Jeffrey Nordling (“Sully,” “Motive”); and Douglas Smith (HBO’s “Big Love”; “The Bye Bye Man”).
BIG LITTLE LIES was filmed in and around greater Los Angeles and the Monterey Peninsula.
Season one of BIG LITTLE LIES was a critical and awards success, garnering 16 Emmy® nominations and eight wins: Outstanding Limited Series; Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie (Nicole Kidman); Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie (Laura Dern); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (Alexander Skarsgård); Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special (Jean-Marc Vallée); Outstanding Casting for a Limited Series, Movie or Special; Outstanding Contemporary Costumes for a Series, Limited Series or Movie; and Outstanding Music Supervision.
BIG LITTLE LIES also garnered four Golden Globes: Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for TV; Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Nicole Kidman); Best Performance by an Actor in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Alexander Skarsgård); and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television (Laura Dern).
In addition, Jean-Marc Vallée won the Directors Guild of America Award for Movies for Television and Mini-Series, and David E. Kelley won the Writers Guild of America Award for Long Form Adapted.
CHERNOBYL dramatizes the story of the 1986 nuclear accident, one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, and of the brave men and women who made incredible sacrifices to save Europe from unimaginable disaster.
Debuting on HBO in May, the five-part miniseries stars Jared Harris (“The Crown”; Emmy nominee for “Mad Men”), Stellan Skarsgård (“Melancholia,” “Good Will Hunting”) and Emily Watson (Oscar nominee for “Hilary and Jackie” and “Breaking the Waves”).
CHERNOBYL was written and executive produced by Craig Mazin (“The Huntsman: Winter’s War”) and directed by Johan Renck (“Breaking Bad”). Produced by Sister Pictures and The Mighty Mint as an HBO/Sky co-production. Carolyn Strauss (Emmy® winner for “Game of Thrones”) and Jane Featherstone (“Broadchurch”) executive produce; Johan Renck and Chris Fry (“Humans”) co-executive produce; Sanne Wohlenberg (“Black Mirror”) produces.
On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, Soviet Union, suffered a massive explosion that released radioactive material across Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine and as far as Scandinavia and western Europe. Jared Harris portrays Valery Legasov, a leading Soviet nuclear physicist. As part of the response team, he is one of the first to grasp the scope of the unparalleled disaster that has occurred.
Stellan Skarsgård plays Soviet Deputy Prime Minister Boris Shcherbina, who is assigned by the Kremlin to lead the government commission on Chernobyl in the hours immediately following the accident.
Emily Watson portrays Ulana Khomyuk, a Soviet nuclear physicist committed to solving the mystery of what led to the Chernobyl disaster.
The miniseries also stars: Paul Ritter (“Lovesick”) as Chernobyl deputy chief engineer Anatoly Dyatlov; Jessie Buckley (“Beast”) as Lyudmilla Ignatenko, a Pripyat resident married to a firefighter on the first response team; Adrian Rawlins (“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”) as Chernobyl chief engineer Nikolai Fomin; and Con O’Neill (“Harlots”) as plant director Viktor Bryukhanov.
The cast also includes: Sam Troughton (“The Ritual”), Adam Nagaitis (“The Terror”), Barry Keoghan (“Dunkirk”), Ralph Ineson (“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”), Mark Lewis Jones (“Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi”), Fares Fares (HBO’s “Westworld”) and David Dencik (“McMafia”).
The miniseries was filmed on location in Vilnius, Lithuania, with a creative team including director of photography Jakob Ihre (“Thelma”); production designer Luke Hull (“Howards End”); editors Jinx Godfrey (“The Theory of Everything”) and Simon Smith (“Endeavor”); costume designer Odile Dicks-Mireaux (“Brooklyn”); casting directors Nina Gold and Robert Sterne (both two-time Emmy® winners for HBO’s “Game of Thrones”); and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir (“Trapped”).
