In season three of Hulu’s Tell Me Lies, Grace Van Patten’s Lucy and Jackson White’s Stephen are ready to rekindle things but Lucy gives the warning: “We have to be nice to each other this time.”
Hulu released the trailer for the upcoming season on Wednesday which teases the return of Lucy and Stephen’s toxic romance as they begin spring semester at Baird College.
A synopsis for the season reads, “While they promise things will be different this time, past indiscretions hinder their best intentions, and Lucy finds herself embroiled in a controversy she wants nothing to do with. Meanwhile, the disastrous repercussions from the previous year also force Lucy and Stephen’s friends to face their own destructive behaviors. As scandalous secrets fester around campus, vicious consequences threaten Lucy and everyone in her circle.”
Throughout the trailer, Lucy, Stephen and their friends find themselves enduring a myriad of drama with Lucy confronting Stephen about his intentions. Season two ended on a cliffhanger with Stephen sending Bree (Catherine Missal) — on the day of her and his friend Evan’s wedding — a recording of Evan (Branden Cook) confessing that he hooked up with Lucy in college. However, Evan was dating Lucy’s friend Bree at the time this hookup occurred. Season three seemingly follows Stephen’s intent for revenge.
“He’s going to hold this over us forever,” Lucy tells Evan.
“I want to hurt you and I don’t know how else to do it,” Stephen tells Lucy at one point in the trailer.
The shocking moment was something that was written last minute, showrunner and exec producer Meaghan Oppenheimer told The Hollywood Reporter.
“In season two, I definitely knew that he was going to record Evan saying this thing. Initially, I didn’t think he was going to play it at the end of the finale. I rewrote the ending of the finale very quickly, very last minute… I rewrote it, because initially it was going to be more of a cliffhanger of: Is he going to tell Bree or not at the wedding? And then I decided he’s just gotta tell her; we just have to have that blow up,” she said.
That need for revenge is something that seemingly carries over in season three. “Stephen is able to control his anger and then utilize it to his advantage, and when the moment makes sense. It’s very rare that he’s explosive or impulsive,” Oppenheimer told THR. She also teased that Lucy and Stephen still have more of a “cat-and-mouse game” with each other.
Cat Missal, Spencer House, Sonia Mena, Branden Cook, Alicia Crowder and Costa D’Angelo also return.
Emma Roberts, co-founder Karah Preiss and Matt Matruski executive produce under their Belletrist banner, and Laura Lewis executive produces for Rebelle Media. Shannon Gibson, Stephanie Noonan and Sam Schlaifer also serve as executive producers, and Tyne Rafaeli is executive producer and director. The series is adapted from Carola Lovering’s novel of the same name. Lovering serves as a consulting producer. 20th Television produces the series.
Season three of Tell Me Lies premieres Jan. 13, 2026, with two episodes on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers in the US, and on Disney+ internationally.
