Adapted from Carola Lovering’s novel, Tell Me Lies is a new Hulu series following a toxic relationship as it unfolds over the course of eight years. The show switches between the past and present, with each episode offering an additional piece of the story. Meaghan Oppenheimer serves as both the showrunner and an executive producer.
The series stars Grace Van Patten, Jackson White, Branden Cook, Sonia Mena, Benjamin Wadsworth, Spencer House, Catherine Missal, and Alicia Crowder.
Screen Rant chats with stars Sonia Mena, Catherine Missal, and Alicia Crowder about their roles in the new Hulu series.
Screen Rant: I wanted to start by asking what you could each tell us about your characters. This is a new series, so what role do you play?
Catherine Missal: Bree is kind of an outsider. She grew up in a similar way, I guess, I would say that I did. Just kind of on the outskirts of normal life. But she’s very loyal. A great friend. I could connect with her in a lot of ways and I learned a lot from Bree.
Alicia Crowder: I would say that Diana is very ambitious and very determined. She definitely comes from a life of privilege, but I think that she uses that to her own advantage, and also to help other people. Like I think that a big part of her relationship with Stephen is helping him and encouraging him to be the best that he can be and to reach his full potential. And I think that she’s also very kind to anyone walking down the street. She wants to help people and bring out the best in everyone.
Sonia Mena: I think Pippa is fiery, and the ringleader of the three girls, and is just going after what she wants in a crazy way. She’s very loud, very spirited. And I think under that is a lot of tenderness and confusion. Yeah, I love her a lot.
Screen Rant: Is this a show that’s going to switch between the past and the present? Because we know it unfolds over the course of eight years and that’s a lot of time to cover.
Sonia Mena: Yeah. I mean, we do a little bit of flip-flopping. But mostly past I would say, right?
Screen Rant: How is that flip-flopping for each of you? I’ve talked to other actors who have played these back-and-forth roles, and they’ve said that it can be a challenge to know where your character’s arc is when you’re switching like that.
Catherine Missal: I think it’s funny because the first stuff that we shot was in the future—eight years of knowing each other. And it was in like the first three days of meeting each other. So all of that was really funny. But we all clicked so instantly, that it was really easy to kind of get that chemistry. But it was fun to play college characters, you know?
Sonia Mena: And it’s such a mystery, because we know a little bit about where we end up in eight years, but there’s so much that happens that we don’t know about. So it’s like we’re guessing along with the audience in terms of following where Meaghan and the writers are taking us, which is a lot of fun and keeps you on your toes.
Screen Rant: Overall, how has this experience been? How was filming the season and meeting the cast and crew?
Alicia Crowder: I would say that it was a lot of fun. There are some days on set where it goes really long and people are tired, but I think that everyone had a really good attitude and even on the days that were difficult, we made it through together. We kind of just hunkered down and put our heads down and worked hard. And so I would say overall, for me, it was really great.
Sonia Mena: Yeah, we got so lucky in that we just clicked so well pretty instantly, like Cat was saying. Especially the days when we were all on set—the days we had the big parties and stuff. It was just like a total madhouse in between all of us just doing silly bits, and we all still talk a lot. So yeah, it was really fun.
Tell Me Lies Synopsis
“Tell Me Lies” follows a tumultuous but intoxicating relationship as it unfolds over the course of 8 years. When Lucy Albright (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White) meet at college, they are at that formative age when seemingly mundane choices lead the way to irrevocable consequences. Although their relationship begins like any typical campus romance, they quickly fall into an addictive entanglement that will permanently alter not only their lives, but the lives of everyone around them.
Read our other Tell Me Lies interviews here:
The first four episodes of Tell Me Lies are available to stream on Hulu.