Why 'Tell Me Lies' Won't Have a Season 4, According to the Creator

grace van patten as lucy and jackson white as stephen holding her hands while sitting on a dorm room bed in tell me lies season 3 — (Image credit: Hulu)

Ahead of Tell Me Lies season 3, creator and showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer became obsessed with the fable of the scorpion and the frog.

As the story goes: a scorpion needs a frog’s help to cross a river. The frog hesitates, saying the scorpion will deploy its deadly sting, but the scorpion promises not to. Halfway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog, who asks why it would do that, dooming them both to death. The scorpion apologizes, but ultimately, it just couldn’t fight its true nature.

“There's always the question with Stephen (Jackson White) of is he going to change or hurt Lucy (Grace Van Patten), and she gives him that final chance,” Oppenheimer tells Marie Claire. “And the answer is: of course. He was going to hurt Lucy because this is who he is, and he can't help it, and he has to win.”

The choice in question refers to the final moments of the season 3 finale, which Oppenheimer and Hulu revealed Monday night will be the series’s conclusion. Oppenheimer said she wanted to keep the story contained, with a clear beginning, middle, and end—despite season 3’s record viewership and passionate fan engagement. As tempting as it was to pursue a fourth season, Oppenheimer said it would require reframing the entire show, which has always anchored itself to a wedding storyline that wrapped up in season 3.

“There was always a very specific core question for me: what happens to this group of friends when there is this absolutely toxic dynamic at the center of it, and then what happens when they reunite years later?” Oppenheimer explains days before the finale airs. With those questions answered, she and the writers felt confident in where and how to end Tell Me Lies.

Ahead, Oppenheimer discusses the decision to say goodbye, the psychology of her flawed characters, and the pivotal choices that have polarized fans throughout the season—including those jaw-dropping closing moments between the show’s proverbial scorpion and frog.

jackson white as stephen and grace van patten as lucy having an argument in a dorm room in tell me lies season 3 — Stephen (Jackson White) and Lucy (Grace Van Patten) have a confrontation in the dorms in the college timeline of *Tell Me Lies* season 3.

Marie Claire: We see Lucy really unraveling this season. I think the show does such a good job of putting the audience in her position so you really feel as she's wondering if she can trust her own mind. What was the kind of evolution of that in the writers room?

Meaghan Oppenheimer: It was important to show that that sort of emotional abuse; it really does detach you from yourself. I think people get very angry at her decisions but we wanted to make it clear that when you're in a relationship like that, you're not making decisions out of a stable place, you're coming from a fragmented place. I think Lucy already had the ability to sort of dissociate, which you see at other times earlier in the show—in season 2 when she does eye makeup on one eye, there have always been those little moments, those little hints—so it just felt like the most organic place that it could go. A lot of people have talked about: is this a romantic story? Is this a love story? Is this a story of abuse? I really wanted to leave no question this year that this is a story of emotional abuse. I don't see them as Bonnie and Clyde. I don't see them as equal villains. I see her as a victim of Stephen’s.

MC: That really speaks to how even when your heart is going through something, your mind and body are affected by it.

MO: Completely. Emotional and mental stress take such a physical toll. With Lucy, by episode 8, we're really seeing that detachment between her body and her mind. I talked to Grace about that scene where she's getting expelled, and I said I almost want it to feel like your brain and your body have not caught up with each other. So you're crying because something in you is literally weeping out of grief, but you have a smile on your face because you haven't reconciled those two realities with each other. And she did it so beautifully.

MC: Grace has said that this season for Lucy is about punishment. Another word that you've used in the past, for season 2, was “humiliation.” Tell me more about that.

MO: For me, humiliation has always been a big theme of the show. On a personal level, humiliation is one of those feelings for me that is one of the worst things you can feel. I was really taken by it in the book at how Carola [Lovering] was so brave, and how humiliating she allowed Lucy to be at times, which I don't think we see often. But the punishment—I talk a lot about what is the natural arc of things—it felt like people had escaped consequences a lot up until season 3, and the reality is that consequences do happen. There is sometimes a feeling in early adulthood that consequences are temporary and that you can always fix things, and I think one of the realities of growing up is realizing that some consequences are actually really permanent, and things do take a permanent toll on you. So thinking about punishment in that way, not even a just punishment, but almost the universe punishing these people, and also Lucy punishing herself.

jackson white as stephen wearing a black suit and black bow tie at a wedding in tell me lies season 3 — The series finale to *Tell Me Lies* hit streaming on February 17, 2026.

MC: That's interesting, because now this is the series finale, there are quite a few things in the show where there aren't consequences—and that is a harsh reality as well.

MO: There are. Because there aren't always consequences for everything, and things are not fair. I thought that was very important, specifically with Stephen. He has consequences for some things, such as Yale—he loses out on that huge dream of his—but he gets away with a lot. He gets away with Macy (Lily McInerny). I always felt that he would get away with that crime, from day one. I thought that that would be realistic, and I think it's unfair to actual victims of this kind of abuse to pretend like justice always happens, because it doesn't.

But Evan (Branden Cook) gets some consequences; the wedding blows up in his face. I don't think he ends up getting the girl at the very end. I think that Bree (Cat Missal) and Lucy lose their friendship, so that's a consequence, but I also think there's some happy endings. That little smile at the end with Bree and Wrigley (Spencer House), there's hope for them in the future, and I think once this friend group sort of disintegrates—which it needs to in some ways—I think that they kind of find their happy ending eventually. But I wanted the justice to be imperfect and realistic like it is in real life. I know that not everyone will love that. I know that that will be polarizing, but it felt important to me to be honest with what I see in the world.

MC: I think we want that from TV, but we rarely get it in real life.

MO: There's been so much talk about in the last few years after #MeToo—"Oh, did we over do it? Did we cancel all these men?" I can tell you, there are men out there that are thriving, that have horrible secrets, and women as well. We see it now with everything that's happening in the world. Bad people are thriving, unfortunately.

I wanted the justice to be imperfect and realistic like it is in real life. I know that not everyone will love that. I know that that will be polarizing, but it felt important to me to be honest with what I see in the world.

MC: There are a couple times this season where Lucy kind of tries to beat Stephen at his own game. Do you feel that Stephen is infecting the people around him?

MO: Yeah. I think that is what happens in friend groups and friendships in general, relationships that are romantic or platonic. You end up learning from the people that you surround yourself with, and that's why it's so important to choose your friends and your relationships really carefully, because it's inevitable that we, to some degree, become the people that we spend the most time with. I think that Evan specifically learns a lot by just watching Stephen, and watching Stephen get away with things, and I certainly have seen that in friend groups before.

grace van patten as lucy smiling while jackson white as stephen puts his hand on her shoulder in a dorm room in tell me lies season 3 — Oppenheimer describes "humiliation" and "punishment" as major themes throughout the drama.

MC: That has led to a lot of criticism of the other characters besides Stephen—and healthy conversation as well, because they're all, to quote Wrigley, making terrible decisions. So how do you write or root for these morally gray characters and want the audience to view them?

MO: It's funny, I never have trouble rooting for flawed characters because I've literally never met a perfect person in my life. Most of my favorite people are very flawed, and especially at this age. Stephen is making some really unforgivable decisions. Evan, the one thing that he does that's kind of unforgivable is the thing with Bree's mom. But other than that, I think that the decisions these people are making, while they're flawed, are not inherently evil. They're the result of being immature, being in a bad environment, not having certain tools. So it's very easy for me to root for them, because they're not murderers. Most of them are not trying to inflict harm. For me, it's not hard, but it is funny when people talk about these characters being so terrible and they're so mad. I'm just like, "Wow, am I just surrounded by really terrible people? Because I don't think they're that bad." I am not surrounded by terrible people, I have great people in my life. I'm joking.

I never have trouble rooting for flawed characters because I've literally never met a perfect person in my life.

MC: But I was kind of thinking that we offer a lot of grace to television characters in that way, and not always in real life. I’m not sure viewers are making those connections.

MO: Without a doubt. There are so many characters on TV where I'm like, “Oh, they're a flawed anti-hero. They're amazing,” but if I actually met that person in real life, I would want nothing to do with them.

sonia mena as pippa wearing a fur lined coat sitting in a waiting room with her hair in a bun in a still from tell me lies season 3 — "You are allowed to have your trauma be as private as you want it to be, and that's why I don't blame Pippa for not coming forward," Oppenheimer says of Sonia Mena's character.

MC: It’s very tempting to compare apples to oranges when watching Tell Me Lies. I was just speaking with a friend about Pippa (Sonia Mena), and how she's very agitated that no one does anything about Stephen, yet she's not doing anything about Chris (Jacob Rodriguez)—and it's not the same. I don't want to compare those things. I don't want to watch the finale and compare everyone's struggles, but the temptation is there, and I wanted to bring that up.

MO: That's actually a really interesting point. When Pippa says that, the way that I interpreted or intended that to be is she's upset with Stephen's friends, not mad at Stephen's victims for not doing anything. She's mad at his friends that witness him hurting his victims. I do think that is a problem, especially with boys of that age, they tend to forgive a lot of bad behavior with their male friends in terms of how they treat girls. If you are a victim of any kind of sexual violence, I don't think it's that person's responsibility to come forward. You are allowed to have your trauma be as private as you want it to be, and that's why I don't blame Pippa for not coming forward and saying, "Hey, this happened to me. It didn't happen to Lucy." I had some comments of people being upset about that, but Pippa does not owe anyone that information. But it's easy to compare all of it for sure.

MC: I don’t think Pippa’s in a position to even see the parallel.

MO: I think that Pippa has a hard time forgiving Lucy in general, to be honest. Pippa is a bit hard on Lucy.

MC: It's hard to watch your friends go through that.

MO: Especially when there's someone as insufferable as Stephen around you end up just resenting the people that keep those guys around, even though they are so, so manipulated.

spencer house as wrigley sitting on a dorm room floor talking to catherine missal as bree in tell me lies — Oppenheimer explains that Wrigley's character evolved, thanks in part to actor Spencer House.

MC: Wrigley, to that end, is very much the saving grace this season, and I am not surprised at all by it, because Spencer is such a strong actor so that was very satisfying. How did that arc take shape?

MO: Him becoming such a hero was something that surprised me. A lot of it was honestly watching Spencer, getting to know Spencer. He brought so much that was not on the page with Wrigley initially. He has so much depth. He's such an empathetic person. He's a real caring, good guy, and you could see that in his eyes, in every scene, so it just became easy to write to it. I joke with him a lot about this; He gave an interview after season 2 that was like "I get a little bit bummed out because I see Wrigley in 2015 and I know he never gets out of this downward spiral, and I just have had to accept that, but I wish he had a win." And I was like, "Okay, I'm gonna take that challenge." I joke with him that there are a lot of people I would have just ignored that comment from, but he's such a great guy. I'm joking—but it was really nice to find a way to give him a hero arc.

MC: That final scene with Lucy had my jaw on the floor. I have so many interpretations, and I love that you've left it in a way that we can just pore over it. But what is your interpretation of that and of where things are left with her and Stephen?

MO: I think that's the end with her and Stephen, and I think she realizes it in that moment. He just needed her to choose him. It's what she says. He just needed her to choose him over everyone else, and then that's all he needed, and he can move on to the next person. Because he has that final win, and once he has the final win, the game is over. But I think that Lucy in that moment, you can only laugh. She can only laugh because she sees it all. Hindsight is perfect, and she realizes in that moment, "Oh, my God, look what I have done," but there's a freedom in that, and there's a release in that. Also, this friend group had to implode—I think certain people will say friends, but the group as a group, was just never something they could grow within. Even though it's catastrophic and it's horrible and these friendships explode, 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.

grace van patten as lucy wearing formal wear and long gloves talking to a bartender played by edmund donovan over a bar in tell me lies season 3 — The end of season 3 reveals how Lucy and Max (Edmund Donovan) get back together.

MC: You kind of answered my next question, which was why is it him leaving and not her refusing to go? So he can have the last move?

MO: I actually don't think she would have ever gotten freedom if she turned him down. I don't think she's making this move intentionally. I think that she actually does give him the chance and he betrays it, but the silver lining of that is that I think if she had walked away, he 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—and I think Diana learned that a long time ago.

MC: We’ve now confirmed that this is the last season. Did you always envision it as three after you started expanding on the book?

MO: I felt like three was a really good number. I think that it's a smaller story. I always felt like this needed to be a story that had a very solid beginning, middle, and end. I didn't want it to just be something that became a theme, if that makes sense. From day one, from when I wrote my initial pitch pages, 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.

There were definitely questions. We had amazing numbers this year, and it's hard to walk away from something when the fan base is so loyal and so active. It's so much fun to make the show, but 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. I care so much about just keeping the quality good. It's hard to walk away from something when it's good, but I think the worst case scenario would be dragging something out too long, or not knowing when you're ending. There's so many shows when they don't even know that they're doing their finale, and so they leave stuff unfinished, and then they get canceled. I really never wanted that to happen. I wanted to wrap things up. But there was a lot of discussion.

grace van patten as lucy wearing a fur lined coat and carrying a backpack looking over her shoulder as she walks down a college hallway in tell me lies season 3 — "Now that this explosion has happened, she will actually find real happiness, because it's all out of her system now," Oppenheimer says of Lucy in the series finale.

MC: There's a lot of what I now understand are things that are deliberately open ended. There's so much that happens between 2009 and 2015 that fans can ponder. What do you have to say to them?

MO: There's certain things that I never anticipated being really answered. I never thought we would see how Lucy and Max (Edmund Donovan) get back together. I'm surprised that there are people that ask how Lydia (Natalee Linez) and Stephen got together? We answer that in season 2, when you see them have that conversation about how much Lucy sucks, and he's like, "Oh, maybe we'll see each other." It's clear, to me at least, that they get together to some degree out of spite towards Lucy, and that what Lydia considers Lucy's betrayal is what opens the door for that. My favorite kind of storytelling is stuff that does not overexplain everything, and leaves some stuff to the imagination. I think that that's the most elegant way of telling a story.

There's certain things that are actually boring to watch if you give all the answers. So I never intended to see all of those years in between college and adulthood. It was always about we're going to lead up to their final breakup in college, and then we're going to see this reunion in adulthood. Obviously, I hope the fans love the ending, but you can't please everyone. It just speaks to how dedicated our fans are, if they have a very strong reaction. But I feel good about the story. And all my writers really loved the story, the way that we ended it.

MC: You don't have to tell me if you did come up with stuff, but did you explore those gaps on your own or with the writers just to have the answers for yourselves?

MO: Yeah, for sure. Just so that we would understand sort of where the characters were coming from, we talked about where they'd been. We talked about what Lucy did after getting expelled. I think she probably ended up going back to school after maybe taking a year, but not probably a very good school. She gave up on writing, and she went into sales, which we talked about, and I think she was with Max because it was safe. But now that this explosion has happened, she will actually find real happiness, because it's all out of her system now. It was sort of a fake recovery before.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.

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Proma Khosla is a New York-based writer whose words have appeared in Teen Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Mashable, and, most recently, at IndieWire, where she was a Senior TV reporter for almost four years. She is the co-director of Lion Party Films and creator of Drunk Bollywood Live, where she highlights South Asian art and performers on stage. She is one half of the podcast "PromRad" with fellow Marie Claire contributor Radhika Menon.