‘Tell Me Lies’ Bree and Wrigley Reveal in Season 3: Creator Interview

[This story contains MAJOR spoilers from Tell Me Lies season three, episode four, titled “Fix Me Up, Girl.”]

After nearly a year and a half of waiting, Tell Me Lies finally answered the major season two cliffhanger of who was calling Bree (Catherine Missal) before her wedding to Evan (Branden Cook).

No, it wasn’t Bree’s former professor Oliver (Tom Ellis), or his wife Marianne (Gabriella Pession) — or a yet-to-be-introduced character, as many had speculated. The person on the other side of the mysterious phone call was actually… Wrigley (Spencer House)!

Stephen (Jackson White) clocks this revelation — along with viewers — when episode four jumps ahead to the 2015 timeline. The antagonist in the addictive Hulu series notices a secret spark between Bree and Wrigley, despite Bree having just married Evan moments earlier — even after Stephen revealed to Bree in a voicemail that Evan and Lucy had slept together in college. This puts some context to Bree’s season opening warning to Lucy that she’s a “bad person,” which Oppenheimer had previously said was just the beginning of Bree’s season three storyline.

“You got to surprise people, and this audience is so hard to surprise,” creator Meaghan Oppenheimer tells The Hollywood Reporter about keeping Wrigley and Bree’s relationship hidden from fans until now. “My God, they are smart and they predict a lot of stuff.”

Below, Oppenheimer explains how long she’s known about Bree and Wrigley and how she brought that reveal moment to life. She also unpacks Diana’s (Alicia Crowder) casual decision to get an abortion — “a victory moment” with Planned Parenthood’s help — and teases the second half of season three, now that only four episodes remain.

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Wow! It’s finally revealed that Wrigley was the one calling Bree before her wedding. There’s no way viewers could have guessed this during seasons one or two, so how long have you known it was going to be him?

I’ve known for a while. If you look back at episode one, there are hints about Bree and Wrigley. And there are hints even in season two, at the engagement. Watch Bree and Wrigley in the background. There have always been hints.

Why did you wait until this season to start introducing the dynamic between Bree and Wrigley?

You got to surprise people, and this audience is so hard to surprise. It is impossible to surprise them. My God, they are smart and they predict a lot of stuff. So we had to hide the ball.

Of all people to find out, Stephen figures it out at the wedding in the 2015 timeline. Can you talk about showing Bree and Wrigley’s love in a subtle way, but obvious enough for Stephen to notice?

It was hard (laughs). It was such a fun scene to film. There was a lot of giggling on set that day. Editing that scene was like, God damn it, they’re laughing. But it was about seeing that moment of heartbreak between them that was like, as long as we can see the devastation when they look at each other, we’re going to understand everything that’s happening. But it was also about finding that song. That song [“I Couldn’t Be Your Friend” by Tegan And Sara] gave me the idea for that sequence, which is funny because the lyrics are so perfect and I’m obsessed with that song. It was about seeing that look of regret in their eyes, but it was hard. It was such a big [scene]. All the wedding sequences were. They were so much fun, but they were chaotic.

With Diana’s abortion storyline, Stephen seemed really upset. Do you think he actually wanted her to have the baby, or was it a control thing? 

Completely a control thing. He’s so upset in the moment that he wasn’t consulted. That’s the biggest thing for him. In the moment, his wheels are turning: “Oh, maybe this will do this for her father.” But it is 100 percent control. If Stephen actually were presented with the challenge of raising a child, he would be mortified and not be able to deal with it.

Abortion on screen is usually depicted as a really difficult decision, even if that’s not always the case in real life. Diana goes about it more casually, like it’s more of an inconvenience. Can you talk about why you chose to depict it that way?

That was always my attention from the get-go with this storyline specifically. I have pretty much only seen abortions depicted as a heavy, complicated decision, and certainly that can be the case for a lot of women in a lot of situations, but not always all. Sometimes it is just a relief and something you have to do, and I personally think it is something that can sometimes be a gift to people in certain situations.

Specifically because of what’s going on in the world right now, I wanted to show abortion as something that could be casual, that could even be a victory moment, as weird as that might sound. There were definitely a few people when they first read it who were a bit like, “Oh, is it too insensitive?” And I had to push for that because for Diana, it’s not a sensitive thing. She’s just trying to get to her future. I’m sure it will upset some people, but it is how I felt about it.

I was really grateful that Craig [Erwich] at Hulu [president of Disney Television Group] is just really wonderful and active with women’s reproductive health. He was a huge help in getting Planned Parenthood to come on and allow us to use their signage, because I think there’s no institution, at least in this country, that means as much to young women who need help in that situation as Planned Parenthood. You see that slogan and know exactly where you are and what’s happening. Having their support meant so much to me because the image of that sign behind her meant so much more than a fictional clinic that we might’ve had to use if Planned Parenthood hadn’t allowed us to use theirs.

What should people keep in mind going into the last four episodes of season three? 

Buckle up. Just don’t predict anything because I don’t think you’re going to predict what’s going to happen, is what I would say. Episode six is a tearjerker, but I think episode eight [the finale] is actually quite funny. It’s a lot of things, but I think there is a lot of humor to it.

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The first four episodes of Tell Me Lies are currently streaming on Hulu. Check out all of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Tell Me Lies coverage, including our premiere interviews with Jackson White and Oppenheimer.