'Tell Me Lies' Ending, Explained: Who Released Lucy's Tape?

grace van patten as lucy looking at jackson white as stephen driving a car after the wedding in the season 3 series finale of tell me lies — (Image credit: Disney/Ian Watson/Hulu)

It finally happened: One of the most toxic stories ever told is now over, thanks to the Tell Me Lies season 3 finale. The hit Hulu show concluded with its third installment, officially bringing an end to Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen's (Jackson White) messy college relationship. Or did it?

Going into the season 3 finale, fans of Tell Me Lies had many lingering questions. Why did Bree (Cat Missal) say she was the “worst person” Lucy knows? What did Stephen do to ruin Lucy's life sophomore year in 2009? And why in the world did Evan (Branden Cook) even invite Stephen to his wedding years later in 2015? Now that the finale finally aired on February 17, 2026, we've got our answers. (Well, mostly: Evan's continued friendship with Stephen remains an inexplicable error in judgment.)

The entire season of Hulu's college drama has been building up to the fact that Lucy was exposed for falsely accusing Chris (Jacob Rodriguez) of sexual assault. So, when Stephen coerced Lucy into confessing on camera in exchange for him not telling Bree about Lucy and Evan's drunken hookup, we thought we'd found our answer. But, in one of the most shocking twists in Tell Me Lies history, Stephen returned the tape to Lucy after she desperately begged him to release it.

So, who really released the tape? And what were the consequences? All was finally revealed in Tell Me Lies's season 3 finale, “Are You Happy Now That I'm on My Knees?” Read on for a breakdown of the ending of Tell Me Lies.

catherine missal as bree in a wedding dress at the center of the dance floor hugging grace van patten as lucy in the season 3 series finale of tell me lies — Stephen makes more dramatic confessions as Bree's (Catherine Missal) wedding winds down in the *Tell Me Lies* finale.

How does the 'Tell Me Lies' season 3 finale end?

The Tell Me Lies season 3 finale picks up right where the season's penultimate episode left off. Lucy, now in possession of the memory card with the taped confession Stephen coerced her into making, feels a renewed sense of power—and she wants to use it to make Stephen pay. So, instead of destroying the memory card right away, she decides to attend a Yale Law School event in the hopes of convincing a Yale representative to rescind Stephen's acceptance. She causes a scene, but inevitably fails in her mission to force her ex to face consequences, leaving her on his bad side. It's no surprise, then, that her taped confession was soon leaked online. A traumatized Lucy is then unceremoniously expelled and forced to leave Baird College immediately as her friends watch.

Fast forward to 2015, Bree and Evan's wedding reception is winding down, with only the Baird College crew left standing. After failing to ruin Bree and Evan's wedding by revealing that Evan and Lucy slept together in college, Stephen comes up with plan B. He decides he's going to break up with his fiancée and reveal to the entire wedding party that he and Lucy slept together earlier that day, that Bree and Wrigley (Spencer House) have been hooking up for months, and that he hates Evan and all of his friends.

grace van patten as lucy walking out of a gas station with two coffees in the tell me lies season 3 finale — Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen do briefly rekindle their flame in the finale—until he has other plans.

Why does Stephen leave Lucy at the gas station in the 'Tell Me Lies' finale?

It's a very close call, but Lucy and Stephen end season 3 going in opposite directions—literally. After Stephen ruins the wedding, he sweet-talks Lucy into leaving with him. Despite knowing that Stephen will only ever be in a relationship to win or gain the upper hand, Lucy wants to believe him when he tells her that she's all he has left.

The two drive off into the sunrise. All is well until they stop for gas in the middle of nowhere. Lucy offers to get some coffee in the convenience store, but by the time she comes back out, Stephen is gone. But don't worry too much: In a rare act of uncharacteristic kindness, he at least had the courtesy to leave her purse.

The episode ends with Lucy realizing that Stephen is long gone, but instead of falling apart, she turns and laughs.

Showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer opened up about the moment to Marie Claire. She described her laugh as realizing she has hindsight to question her decisions and feeling like she can finally move on. "I think there's a part of her that feels some kind of relief knowing 'the secrets are out, my guilt is out, and I'm going to move on from this, and I can actually grow up,' because she's only what, 26? She's so young," Oppenheimer said.

The series creator added, "I think if [Lucy] had walked away, [Stephen] would have pursued. I think that because he does get the final move, and he gets to have that final laugh, she actually will be safe from him now. I just think that's how he works."

catherine missal as bree sitting on a couch with a blanket wrapped around her in a dorm in the tell me lies season 3 finale — As it turns out, Bree released Lucy's tape.

Who released Lucy's confession tape in 'Tell Me Lies?'

Before leaving Evan and Bree's wedding, Stephen drops one more bomb: He didn't release the tape that got Lucy expelled from Baird. It was Bree. In a flashback to 2009, Bree is summoned to a meeting with her mother, Oliver (Tom Ellis), Marianne (Gabriella Pession), and Amanda (Iris Apatow), the underage freshman Bree believes is Oliver's new student girlfriend. Marianne and Oliver accuse Bree of harassment and convince her mother that Bree is so infatuated with Oliver that she made up a romantic relationship in her head. Amanda sticks by Oliver and Marianne, and, unable to convince her mother to believe her, Bree is left without an ally.

What does this have to do with releasing Lucy's tape, you may ask? It sets the stage for Bree to do something uncharacteristically impulsive.

After her traumatic parent-teacher conference, Bree escapes to Evan's apartment. Once there, she discovers—via Facebook—that Evan slept with Lucy their freshman year. The betrayal by her mother, coupled with this fresh wound, sends Bree into revenge mode, and she releases the tape.

Do Bree and Wrigley get together at the end of 'Tell Me Lies?'

Bree and Wrigley never gave their relationship a real try in college, but there's still hope for them. The two share a sweet smile in the final moments at Bree and Evan's wedding, suggesting that this relationship is far from over.

alicia crowder as diana pakcing up her dorm room while talking to grace van patten as lucy in tell me lies season 3 finale — Stephen faces little consequences, aside from ramifications for the harm he caused Diana (Alicia Crowder).

Do any men face consequences in the end of 'Tell Me Lies?'

Unfortunately, the answer is “no”—except for Evan, who ends his wedding by face-planting into his wedding cake and is definitely headed towards an annulment. (It's the least he deserves after teaming up with Oliver to manipulate Bree into being with him.)

Otherwise, the men face very little consequence for their bad behavior. However, Stephen's admission to Yale Law is rescinded after Wrigley calls and tells them that he sent nude photos of Diana (Alicia Crowder) to her father. Still, in the future, Stephen is clearly successful, and, despite ending the season alone, he's also gotten away with pretty much all of his bad behavior—including killing Macy (Lily McInerny) in season 1.

Meanwhile, we can only assume Oliver is still up to his old tricks, dating students with his wife's help. Or, at the very least, it's clear that Bree never successfully outed him as a predator.

sonia mena as pippa hugging grace van patten as lucy while sitting on a dorm bed in the tell me lies season 3 finale — The series creator explains she feels as though she told the full story she wanted to tell across its three seasons.

Will there be a 'Tell Me Lies' season 4?

Like Stephen and Lucy's relationship, it's time for Tell Me Lies to end. The series was not renewed for a season 4, as the creator/showrunner, Meaghan Oppenheimer, felt the show told its full story with three installments.

Oppenheimer confirmed the news with a statement on Instagram on February 16, 2026, just hours before the finale arrived on streaming. “After three amazing seasons of Tell Me Lies, tonight's episode will be the series finale,” she wrote. “This was always the ending my writing team and I had in mind, and we are insanely proud of it.”

A post shared by Meaghan Oppenheimer (@moppyoppenheimer)
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The showrunner continued, saying that the fan response to season 3 caused the creative team to “explore whether there was another organic way to continue the story," but ultimately decided against it. "We felt it had reached its natural conclusion," Oppenheimer explained.

She spoke more about her decision to end the series in her Marie Claire interview. "From day one...I knew that the last breakup or downfall between Lucy and Stephen in their college years would culminate along with the wedding. I knew that those two arcs would climax at the same time," she said. "At the end of the day, it just felt like the most organic ending. Anything we did past this, we would have to really change the structure of the show, because the wedding has always been the framing device."

Still, she acknowledges how warmly the final season has been received and is excited about whatever may be next. She ended her Instagram announcement by writing, "Thank you for loving our show. We are excited to bring you more stories in the near future."

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Olivia Truffaut-Wong is an editor and writer with over a decade of experience covering culture, beauty, and lifestyle. She was previously an Editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covered beauty, culture, and entertainment. Her work has been featured in The Cut, The Daily Beast, and Refinery29, among others. She's a film and TV obsessive who loves a good marathon almost as much as she loves a good glitter eyeshadow.