Tell Me Lies: How Showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer Expanded The Novel's World [Exclusive]

Ian Watson/Disney

The Hulu original series "Tell Me Lies" has proven an enormous hit for the streamer, and now that it's back for the third season, fans of the show, which centers around the world's most toxic relationship between the deeply misguided Lucy Albright (Grace van Patten) and the overtly evil Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White), get to see these two wreck each others' lives yet again. The series, helmed by showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer, is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Carola Lovering — but as a fan of both the book and the show, something I love about the latter is that it dramatically expands the scope of the story. Rather than focusing on just Lucy and Stephen — who, frankly, provide enough drama that the show could be more myopic and center them entirely — the show gives a lot of focus to supporting characters, all of whom also have fascinating problems and internal lives.

I had the opportunity to speak to Oppenheimer about the third season of "Tell Me Lies," and the showrunner opened up about the adaptation process and why she decided to expand the story past Stephen and Lucy's tumultuous on-again, off-again relationship. "She created an amazing world," Oppenheimer said of Lovering, who works as a consulting producer on the series. "She's not in the writing process of this, and she luckily was so open from day one about understanding that the show and the book have to be separate things. I think her book is incredible. I think it lived very much in the internal world, which would've been hard to have that play out on screen in the same way." Oppenheimer is totally correct, and it's clear that Lovering trusted her to bring this story to life.

Ian Watson/Disney

During our interview, Meaghan Oppenheimer discussed that she and Carola Lovering are very closely in sync on "Tell Me Lies," especially when you consider that the show's second season diverges quite a bit from the original novel by continuing the story. As Oppenheimer said of Lovering, "She was very, very open to make the show what the show was going to be, and I think that trust and that freedom is what allowed me to move forward with it." So how did Oppenheimer strike on her own, so speak?

"Season one, we definitely used more of the book, and then season two, I just knew it had to leave that behind for the most part, but we're always taking the [...] emotional [...] DNA of the show that she created with the book, [it's] always the lifeline of it," Oppenheimer clarified, and she's right; the first season closely follows Lovering's novel, and season 2 is when fans can really see the series diverge. Still, the showrunner made sure to maintain the essence of the story.

"When I read that book, I was just so amazed by the way she captured that suffocating addiction to another person," Oppenheimer shared. "And I thought she was really brave and incredible the way that she allowed her characters to humiliate themselves so much, you know what I mean? I thought she was just so brave with that that it allowed us to dig into those really unpleasant behaviors sometimes."

Ian Watson/Disney

I'm a big fan of Carola Lovering's book — who amongst us hasn't found ourselves in a toxic relationship? — but I have to say that the way Meaghan Oppenheimer used the novel's foundation to give space to other characters is phenomenal. In fact, I already wrote about how "Tell Me Lies" is a rare adaptation that surpasses its source material in that it goes far beyond toxic relationships to tell other stories. (Yes, nearly every relationship depicted on-screen is toxic save for one, but I'll get there.) This, to me, is most evident when it comes to Bree and Pippa, Lucy's two best friends played respectively by Cat Missal and Sonia Mena.

Bree, whose characterization is deepened when we learn that she had a troubled childhood in and out of different foster homes, finds herself torn between two paths throughout season 2. Should she reconcile with her boyfriend, the seemingly perfect Evan (Branden Cook), or continue her illicit affair with her married professor Oliver ("Lucifer" star and Oppenheimer's real-life husband Tom Ellis)? Sure, the answer might seem "obvious" to viewers, but the way Bree struggles with her attraction to Oliver — and acts on it — feels extraordinarily real. (Missal, by the way, sells this storyline wonderfully.) As for Pippa, despite her on-again, off-again relationship with the affable yet troubled Wrigley (Spencer House), she's exploring her sexuality in season 3 by pursuing a secret relationship with Diana (Alicia Crowder), Stephen's ex ... and infidelity aside, the bond between Diana and Pippa is the show's purest and most beautiful.

"Tell Me Lies" really benefits by focusing on all of its characters, and you can see this for yourself every Tuesday on Hulu.