David E. Kelley is holding onto hope that Big Little Lies will return for a third season. 

Season two of the HBO series arrived in 2019, two years after season one debuted. It’s been half a decade since the show debuted new episodes, though the series creator told People that he’s “hopeful” season three will “happen.”

“We’re hoping it happens,” he said Monday at the Gotham TV Awards. “We had a great time doing the first two seasons and we all want to do it again … I’m hopeful it’ll happen.”

Big Little Lies featured an A-list slate of stars, including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Lauren Dern, Meryl Streep, Zoë Kravitz and Shailene Woodley. If a third season does come to fruition, Kelley noted that no one is “under contract” at the moment, but they’d “need to corral a lot of high-caliber talent and their publicists, but everyone is very committed to it.” 

Kelley praised Liane Moriarty, the author of the novel the TV series is based on, for the continued interest in the show. He also teased that Moriarty has “written another book” that a potential next season “will be based on.”

“I think it’s a credit to Liane Moriarty, too, who wrote the original book,” he said. “And she’s written another book that season three will be based on. It’s a pretty good collection of talent.”

In January 2024, sources told The Hollywood Reporter stars and exec producers Witherspoon and Kidman were developing an idea for season three that they were looking forward to pitching to the network. Five months later, the actresses opened up about their hopes for a new season in an interview with Vanity Fair, somewhat indicating that a new installment was happening. 

“I’ve got Laura [Dern] calling me and Zoë [Kravitz] and Shailene [Woodley]. They’re all like, ‘Nic said that we’re making Big Little Lies season three?’” Witherspoon said, to which Kidman rebutted, “But we are now! We’re moving fast and furious, and Liane [Moriarty] is delivering the book.”