Jackson White i Grace Van Patten they broke the work involved in seeing them tell me lies point of view of the characters like the relationship of Stephen and Lucy took a turn for the worse in season 3.
During the three-part premiere, which aired on Tuesday, January 13, Stephen (White) and Van Patten (Lucy) returned to Baird College as a couple, but only for a few days. before it all fell apart. The breakup of the toxic couple was quite messy, with Lucy worried that Stephen would expose the fact that he was sleeping with friend Bree (cat missal) now ex-boyfriend Evan (Brandon Cook).
Lucy decided to give Stephen different ammunition against her: the secret she lied about being sexually assaulted by Lydia’s best friend (Natalee Linez) brother Stephen forced Lucy to tape the admission, which she will now hold over her head.
Per White, 29, plays a disheveled character as as Stephen demanded he dig deep, exclusively revealing Us Weekly“It’s very important to give them humanity. That’s the only way it works.”
Josh Stringer/Hulu; Disney’s Tell Me Lies/Josh Stringer Hulu does a good job of showing which relationships are a big red flag, but some are definitely more toxic than others. Based on Carola Lovering’s novel of the same name, Tell Me Lies follows the messy relationship between college students Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen (…)
The actor admitted that it can be “difficult” to find empathy for Stephen.
“Three years of something is very hard,” he noted of playing the unpopular character. “I’ve never done that before. But I think we do a pretty good job of bringing some truth.”
Van Patten, 29, had a similar process involving Lucy. “It’s like any role I play where in order for the audience to understand them, we have to really understand them,” he said during the joint interview. “That means potentially justifying things that as humans we might not justify. But to serve the character, we have to find ways to understand that and understand their choices and find the truth in them.”
He continued, “That’s the fun part for me. And it’s really exciting, especially over three seasons, to go through Lucy’s actions and impulses.”
based on Carola Loveringthe novel of the same name, tell me lies follows the messy relationship between college students Lucy and Stephen. Their troubled love affair lasts eight years, and everyone around them is affected by Lucy and Stephen’s ups and downs.
Showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer previously explained as the show tries not to happen judgment on Lucy and Stephen.
“(It’s about) trying to be as honest as possible with them and let the characters speak organically as you’re creating the scenes,” he told Us in August 2025. “I generally have a lot of empathy for flawed people. I never want to write a character that I’m completely judging just because I think they’re boring.”
Looking ahead, White and Van Patten he recognized that something was up about Stephen and Lucy turning them into messed up soul mates.
“They definitely share something, whatever it is and whether it’s obvious or not, where they’re attracted to each other for some reason. They feel seen by each other in a very, very messed up way,” he noted. “But it’s the only reason this cycle is nearly impossible to break.”
Van Patten concluded, “I don’t think they think there are other people who can indulge in it the way the other person does. They shouldn’t be together and it’s not healthy. But I think they bring something out of each other that’s really addictive.”
New episodes of tell me lies premieres Tuesdays on Hulu.