The first two episodes of Tell me lies Season 2 starts on Wednesday, September 4th, on Hulu, with new episodes added weekly. It picks up where the events of the first season finale left off and shows Lucy and Stephen back at school months after their shocking breakup. The series was developed for television by Meaghan Oppenheimer and is based on Carola Lovering’s novel of the same name. The series stars Grace Van Patten, Jackson White, Sonia Mena, Alicia Crowder, Branden Cook, Spencer House and Cat Missal.
Alongside Thomas Doherty Lucifer’s Tom Ellis joins the Tell me lies as a series regular. He plays Oliver, an intimidating professor whose approval one of the main characters seeks. Ellis says he was excited to work with Oppenheimer because, although the two are married in real life, he hadn’t originally planned on being part of the project. The two have worked together before, but the actor admits that playing Oliver has allowed him to explore a different type of character than he has played in the past.
Screen Rant chats with Ellis about his love for the series, how he isolated himself to follow in Oliver’s footsteps, and what shocked him most about the Tell me lies Finale of the 1st season.
Tom Ellis was surprised by season 1 of Tell Me Lies
“I don’t think I would have been the particular target audience for it, but I’m so glad I saw it.”
Screen Rant: You and Meaghan are married in real life and have worked together before, but what was it like getting the chance to work on this particular project?
Tom Ellis: I was just really excited because I loved season 1 and what Meaghan did with it and the characters. I honestly never thought this opportunity would ever come up. When I saw the first season, I never thought I would be on this show. But when she came to me and said she had an idea for this character in season 2 and could I imagine playing him, I was really excited to do more with her.
We’ve worked together before, but it wasn’t such an important character in the show and certainly not of this nature. I will always want to work with her, not just because she’s my wife, but because I think she’s really brilliant at what she does. She’s really, really good at working with actors and giving them very simple but very effective cues and really getting them to think a lot more about certain aspects than you would have otherwise.
Speaking of season 1: Obviously a lot happened in the finale. What twists surprised you the most while watching it?
Tom Ellis: Oh my goodness, I think so many, but I think it was definitely very important for me to learn more about Stephen and the accident. But I don’t know, I think there were so many. There were really too many to think about and pick one out. It was one twist after another.
But I think in that sense the show is complex. But it’s not complex when you break it down to a very human element, which is the obsessions that people have when love or sex is on the line. I don’t think I would have been the specific target audience for it, but I’m so glad I saw it. I just thought it was brilliant.
Viewers get to know Oliver through Bree in season 2 of Tell Me Lies
“He’s a pretty ambivalent character. He doesn’t reveal much.”
We don’t know much about your character. We know he’s a professor at the college, but what else can you tell us about him and the role he’ll play in Season 2?
Tom Ellis: I think Oliver is portrayed as a tough taskmaster and people are intimidated by him, but he’s a pretty ambivalent character. He doesn’t give a lot away, so I think there are things that people will be surprised to find about him as they get to know him a little bit better through Bree. But he’s someone who keeps his cards very close to his chest.
And for me, it was quite new territory to play that kind of character. I’ve played quite open, warm characters over the last few years, I think, and to play someone who is so mysterious and so quietly nuanced in some ways – there’s an ambiguity about him that I found really quite fascinating.
There are always changes from script to screen. How did your character evolve over the course of filming? Did you add nuances or discover things as you got more into Oliver’s skin?
Tom Ellis: I think there were things that I had to fight against innately. I’ve been told that one of my characteristics is that I exude a kind of general warmth, and I found that quite difficult to turn off. But I think that was part of what was important about Oliver: he doesn’t give too much away. He doesn’t let too much get to him, and those were things that we kind of stumbled upon over time. I think the biggest challenge for me, honestly, was turning off my instincts and allowing myself to become cooler.
I’m curious if, of all the episodes this season, there’s one that you’re most excited to share with your fans.
Tom Ellis: There are a couple of episodes that I really love. There’s episode 6, the Thanksgiving episode, which is kind of a standalone episode. And then I’m really excited for people to see the finale because there’s so much going on in it. I rewatched it today and I was just like, “Oh my God, there’s so much in there.” It’s relentless low blows that keep coming.
About Tell Me Lies Season 2
Lucy returns to school months after her separation from Stephen.
Season 2 of Tell Me Lies begins with Lucy Albright (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White) no longer speaking and returning to college after their dramatic breakup earlier this summer. Though they are very much at odds, they find themselves in a new version of their addictive dynamic – one that is as infuriating as it is inevitable. Meanwhile, the story delves deeper into the lives of Lucy and Stephen’s circle of friends as the fallout from season 1 impacts all of their lives in unexpected ways.
Check back for our other interviews with the Tell me lies Cast Season 2:
- Grace Van Patten and Jackson White
- Sonia Mena and Alicia Crowder
- Branden Cook, Spencer House and Thomas Doherty
- Meaghan Oppenheimer
- Cat Mass Book
The first two episodes of
Tell me lies
Season 2 will be released on Hulu on September 4th.
Source: Screen Rant Plus
