‘Tell Me Lies’ Stars Grace Van Patten and Jackson White Unpack Season 2 Finale’s Thought-Out Revenge

[This story contains major spoilers from the season two finale of Tell Me Lies, “Don’t Struggle Like That, Or I Will Only Love You More.”]

As viewers wrap their heads around the season two finale of Tell Me Lies — which saw twist after twist — stars Grace Van Patten and Jackson White are unpacking some of the shocking moments.

Following arguably a more toxic season than the first, the second finale of the hit Hulu series featured tragic, surprising and jaw-dropping moments from beginning to end, including Wrigley’s (Spencer House) younger brother Drew’s (Benjamin Wadsworth) death, Oliver’s (Tom Ellis) open-marriage reveal, Diana’s (Alicia Crowder) orchestrated breakup with Stephen, and Stephen dropping a bombshell on Bree (Catherine Missal) and Evan’s (Branden Cook) wedding day in the 2015 timeline, among others.

Van Patten tells The Hollywood Reporter that she “really couldn’t believe” what Stephen did in those final few moments of the season. “I’m so curious what would be in [showrunner] Meaghan [Oppenheimer’s] head for a third season and what the rest of that wedding would look like,” she adds.

Below, the starring pair of Tell Me Lies chat with THR about the shocking final episode, their character’s toxic moments throughout season two and what they would like to see for their characters in a potential third season. Let’s dive in.

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When you both first read the script for the season two finale, what was going through your minds on all the twists and surprising moments?

GRACE VAN PATTEN I could not believe that Stephen had recorded Evan saying that [he cheated on Bree with Lucy], and saved it for how many years? Eight years.

JACKSON WHITE I thought he must have transferred it to a different phone or another USB drive. He had to buy an old charger and get [the phone] reactivated.

VAN PATTEN The work this man had to go through to just hold a bomb for eight years… so much work. That just went beyond my expectations of how manipulative he actually was. I really couldn’t believe that. I was also shocked, and I’m so curious, what would be in Meaghan’s head for a third season and what the rest of that wedding would look like.

It was some very thought-out revenge on Stephen’s part.

WHITE It’s psychotic.

I’m always hoping to see some redeeming qualities from Stephen, but alas there wasn’t much. Jackson, do you think Stephen truly doesn’t care about anyone but himself?

WHITE Oh, I don’t know, self-protection. Yeah, he cares about himself. But also, I think he’s in a lot of fear. He’s just so afraid of losing and not ending up on top. And so he reacts accordingly, and he tries to manipulate everything with a goal in mind. He’s a very goal-oriented kind of person. 

After Leo (Thomas Doherty) physically beats up Stephen, a little smile crosses Stephen’s face when he realizes he just won Lucy back. That tiny moment, I felt, really defines him as a character. Was that written in the script, or did you improvise that?

WHITE I know, I know, it really did! No, it was written in. It was a great part of that sequence written in there, because like you said, it pretty much sums it up and he got exactly what he wanted. I love the way it turned out. I thought it was kind of cool, and it was really fun to shoot — so much blood, sticky blood. 

Lucy was really trying to work on herself this season, but kept finding herself in the center of chaotic situations. Grace, do you think Lucy believes she was trying to be helpful or is she intentionally messy?

VAN PATTEN I think she’s really, really trying, but just doesn’t maybe know how in the correct way. I think it gets convoluted when she’s overcompensating for something that she’s not being honest about. She’s not saying sorry and admitting to the things she did wrong and then trying to earn back trust. She’s just doing it blindly, and trying to redeem herself when her friends don’t even really know what she’s redeeming herself for. It gets twisted and because of that, it gets messy.

But I do think it’s genuine. I think she is really trying to be a good friend and make up for what she did last year, and support both friends [Bree and Pippa, played by Sonia Mena] on their own journeys and then she’s — not meaning to — but creating tension within the group. Because Lucy becomes almost the grounded confidant of both of her friends, which is insane.

This season, Lucy and Jackson aren’t in a relationship but they’re just as toxic, if not more toxic than in season one. How did you both navigate that shift in season two? [Editor’s note: Van Patten and White are in a relationship off-screen.]

VAN PATTEN Every scene we had to do together, which was less than last season, was so extremely loaded that it was just so fun to play with that tension and with the subtext of it, and with all the history between these two people. It was just so fun acting in that.

WHITE That’s the cool part about less frequent interactions with these two ,is that when they do come up, like you said, it’s just loaded up.

If you get another season (fingers crossed), what do you hope to see for each of your characters?

VAN PATTEN What I hope for the character is time alone, but for the show and for drama purposes (laughs), I hope they keep going at it. But human Lucy, to me, I wish she would just leave Stephen and figure herself out.

WHITE I wonder if it would be cool to see Stephen completely stuck with nowhere to run to, nowhere to go. I don’t even know what that means, like no method of manipulating his way out of something. And then also, Meaghan said that there was an idea of a threesome with Wrigley and if that came up, I wouldn’t push against it. But we’ll see, fingers crossed.

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Season two of Tell Me Lies is currently streaming on Hulu. Catch up on THR‘s interviews with Grace Van Patten, co-stars Sonia Mena and Alicia Crowder, showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer and star Cat Missal.