Tell Me Lies creator on Finale Death, Season 3 and Leo/Stephens Tattoos

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for the second season finale of Tell Me Lies, now streaming on Hulu.

Season 2 of Tell Me Lies came to a crashing end in both 2008 and 2015. To sum up everything that happened: Stephen (Jackson White) and Diana (Alicia Crowder) broke up – an idea that making him believe it was his fault, but she had been planning to take him away all along. (No, her father never turned off her credit cards!) There was no sadness at all for Stephen, who immediately slept with Lucy (Grace Van Patten). Immediately afterwards The Lucy returned to Leo (Thomas Doherty) and slept with him – without even changing her underwear. This tidbit later came to Stephen's mind when he mentioned what she was wearing to prove to Leo that they had met hours before, and led to Leo punching him repeatedly until his face was unrecognizable.

Then there was Bree (Catherine Missal) and Oliver (Tom Ellis), who were eventually caught by Marianne (Gabriella Pession)… except she knew it all along, since she and her husband were in an open relationship and just decided (Bree also delivered the best line of the episode, yelling at Oliver, “You don't get to fuck me like I'm an adult and then talk to me like I'm a kid.” “)

And those weren't even the most dramatic storylines. Pippa (Sonia Mena) and Diana caught Drew (Benjamin Wadsworth), who eventually returned to campus to visit Wrigley (Spencer House). But after a night of partying and taking Wrigley pills, Drew overdosed and died on his brother's couch. After his death, Lucy felt so guilty about being the one who wrote the letter that got Drew expelled from school that she tried to stop herself. Stephen decided to take the blame instead, seemingly for Lucy's sake – but being Stephen, he obviously did it to have something to put up with down the line.

Speaking of doing TheAfter Stephen and Lucy got back together, Evan (Branden Cook) made up his mind. had to tell him that Lucy was the one he slept with last year. After going outside for some fresh air, he came back in and, unbeknownst to Evan, recorded himself saying it again: He cheated on Bree with Lucy.

Flashback to 2015: It's Bree and Evans' wedding anniversary. Stephen cheats on Lydia with Lucy and then sends the voice note to Bree. In the final moments of the episode, Bree is seen just before walking down the aisle, listening to Evan's confession while Lucy, her bridesmaid, stands obliviously next to her.

After naming Stephen as possibly the worst character on television, we chatted with the show's creator and executive producer, Meaghan Oppenheimer, who broke down the key moments and gave a taste of what's to come after all that.

Let's go back to the second to last episode – Lucy says she was attacked by Lydia's brother Chris, ends her friendship with Lydia. What was the conversation about making it like? The The reason Lydia hated her?

Before the room started, I knew Lucy was going to be in this failed redemption arc, and I knew I needed that rift between her and Lydia because she was trying to do the right thing but did the wrong thing for the right reason. It really divided the room – Lucy claimed the attack as her own. It was probably the most contentious day in the room and so I thought, “Well, we have to do it.”

There are always some writers who feel like we need to put more positive examples on screen than others. I truly believe that you just have to do what is honest. We are not supposed to guide anyone or tell people to behave this way. Some people really felt that lying about sexual assault was one of the worst things a woman could do – that it was just completely unforgivable for Lucy to do that. I really wanted to test this and see if we could get them to do the wrong thing for the right reason and have people kind of understand it.

Bree and Oliver's relationship finally came to an end. Will we see Tom Ellis again in the future?

I do not believe that. I think Tom only wanted to do one season. I think we summarized his storyline in a way that really worked for me. I don't know where else we would go with him after that. I think we might be able to bring Marianne back. There is much more story to tell with her. But I think we kind of learned that by the end of this season, Oliver is so broken and hollow that I'm ready for Bree to break up with him.

One of the main reasons I wanted to do the show in the first place is to debunk the myth that only weak or stupid women get tricked by narcissists and bad people. That only stupid women are overwhelmed by love. It happens to the strongest of us. For some of the most incredible women I know, their only weak point is a man or a relationship. There's something so vulnerable about that. I don't know what the desire to be loved makes us forget ourselves.

At her engagement party, Bree receives a controversial phone call from someone. At the time it seemed like it could be Oliver. Or maybe Stephen?

I can't say because that won't be revealed until a later season. But it's not Stephen and it's not Oliver.

This season we jump into Wrigley's heartbreaking storyline. It was hinted in the pilot that Drew is no longer there. When did you decide how/when Drew would return and ultimately die?

During the first season I thought it was going to be the end of the first season and then it was too much and we didn't need it. That's why I always knew he was going to die. Ben is so great and so lovable that when we opened the writers' room for Season 2, I thought, “Is there a way we could have him with us?” Otherwise it wouldn't have made sense. I really wanted Wrigley to be destroyed by the end of the season. I know that's such a terrible thing to say! We saw him in the future and I wanted to understand why he got to this point because he's clearly going to be a mess in the years to come.

At the wedding, Wrigley mentions that it's time to let go of his crush. I just want to confirm – is this about Pippa?

Yes. I think he always had hope.

Wrigley and Pippa slept together in the penultimate episode – before he trumped her. Was this the last time we see them together romantically?

I think the sad thing about Pippa's journey this season is that it's interrupted again. Because she's not going to be able to completely break away from Wrigley like I think she probably wants to now because he's been through this big tragedy. She will probably be with him again, at least for a short time after, because he needs her so much and she loves him so much as a friend. She doesn't want to be something that breaks his heart again. But of course it's really unfortunate for them and their growth because it's one more thing that's just stopping that progress.

Will we see Pippa and Diana get together in the future, assuming we get more seasons?

I'm not really sure. I guess it depends on how far we get into the 2008 storyline. I think we would probably see Pippa's coming out because by the time we leave her in 2008, she's already much further along in that journey than Diana. She is already aware that she has these feelings. And Diana, I really don't believe that. I think she knows she feels something for Pippa, but I don't think she called it that or was even honest with herself. So it just depends. But I don't know if we would see Diana's, because Pippa and Diana definitely don't meet until after college. They don't meet while they're studying.

How and when did you decide that Diana would turn against Stephen?

I hope no one saw this coming. It's funny, before we officially got the green light for Season 2, Hulu called me and said they really wanted to green light it, but wanted to make sure we had enough ideas. So I had about 48 hours to screw up a few things, and that was one of the things I came up with – that Diana orchestrated the whole plot to get away from Stephen. I think she starts doing this in earnest in episode 4 when she finds Stephen's photos of Macy. Then she knows she has to get the hell out of there.

Let's talk about Lucy sleeping with Stephen again and then Leo… which led to a pretty awkward confrontation.

The scene (The Lion and Lucy) was really difficult to film because everything had to be on Grace's face. It's about Lucy's own shame in that moment and not wanting to lose Leo. She's desperate, she doesn't want to hurt his feelings or say “no” to him, but she's thinking, “I just fucked Stephen an hour ago.” We kept doing this scene to get to the point where we were safe were that she wasn't disgusted with Leo, but with herself. We used the last take. It plays like a horror movie.

And then the fight Really plays like a horror film.

My parents will be so proud when they hear the line “How does my sperm taste?” Grace actually came up to me and said, “So let's say I have sex with Stephen and then put on the same underwear?” I think she did. It's something that drives the panic attack she's having. Lucy isn't thinking clearly. She runs away from her decision to sleep with Stephen and looks for a safe place. It's heartbreaking and I hope people don't hate her, but people are just really hard on women.

How much more of your college years do you want to show when planning for the future? Will we get more of 2015 and less of 2008 in the future?

I planned this way in advance when I was just thinking about the structure of the show. And I thought we would learn more and more about the future as time went on. I think we'll still have some of 2008 by season three because there are things we need to finish. But I think it would be a little bit shifted in the sense that there will probably be more in 2015 than in 2008.

Would there also be a time jump when Season 3 returns or would it be next semester?

I think there would probably be a time jump.

Finally, there was a lot of excitement on social media about Leo and Stephen both having a rose tattoo and whether this indicated a previous connection. Is that part of the story?

Someone just told me about the tattoo speculation! These are just her real tattoos. Two actors with the same tattoo. Complete coincidence.

This interview has been edited and condensed.