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When Meryl Streep wants to join your television series after one season, you know you have something good on your hands. Streep holds the record for most Academy Award nominations, with a whopping 21 nominations, for which she has won three times. Additionally, she is the most nominated actor for a Golden Globe, with 34 nominations. At this point, she can be afforded living legend status.
Streep has gathered a resume that would leave most actors quaking in their boots, but her filmography is minute in comparison to her passion for great projects. So, in 2019, when she joined the HBO limited series Big Little Lies, people were keen to know why she had decided to join the already star-studded cast.
Big Little Lies was released in 2017 with HBO and is based on the 2014 novel by Liane Moriarty. Though the series was initially billed as a miniseries, it gained a second season in 2019. The story follows three wealthy women as they become entangled in a murder case in their hometown of Monterey, California. The main antagonist of the series is Perry Wright, portrayed by Alexander Skarsgård, the husband of Celeste Wright, portrayed by Nicole Kidman. By the end of season one, Perry is dead. In season two, Streep steps in as Mary Louise Wright, Perry’s mother, to investigate her son’s death.
Before the second season’s release, during a panel conversation moderated by Vanity Fair’s Radhika Jones, Streep spoke about the circumstances leading up to her joining the cast. She said she received a call from her agent, who said, “Nicole wanted to ask you something”. Streep continued to say that when she found out the role was for Big Little Lies, she gasped. Not only was she willing to join the show, but as a fan, she was excited to find out that another season was happening.
The ticket to seal the deal, however, was probably the fact that ‘Mary Louise’, the name of the character Streep was set to portray, is, in fact, Streep’s own legal name. When author Liane Moriarty wrote the novel, she already had Streep in mind for the character and admits to naming the character in the hope that Streep would portray her if a screen adaption were to happen.
But it doesn’t seem like Streep even needed this orchestrated coincidence to accept the role, revealing during the panel: “[My agent] said, ‘Don’t you want to read it [the script]?’ I said no,” Streep said—causing Witherspoon, seated beside her, to gasp dramatically. “It was the greatest thing on television, it really was. There isn’t a woman in this room who wouldn’t sign up.”
Not willing to take Streep’s word for it? The first season of the black comedy drama received eight Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globes. And if you’re wondering about the fate of “the greatest thing on television”? Well, in November last year, Nicole Kidman stated that a third season would be made. Fans are holding out hope.
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