‘Tell Me Lies’ Diana, Pippa Romance in Season 3: Interview

[This story contains MAJOR spoilers from Tell Me Lies season three, episode four, titled “Fix Me Up, Girl.”]

“I’m so excited to abort your baby.”

That line from Diana (Alicia Crowder) in season three of Tell Me Lies pretty much sums up where she stands with Stephen (Jackson White) after two seasons of chaos.

Throughout the first half of the Hulu show’s newest and third season, viewers have been getting to see how Diana and Pippa’s (Sonia Mena) romance initially began in college, after it was revealed they were dating in the 2015 timeline last season. But things can never be simple for these characters, so Pippa is still navigating her relationship with boyfriend Wrigley (Spencer House) while also exploring a new, secret relationship with Diana.

To make things more complicated, Diana learns that she’s pregnant with ex-boyfriend Stephen’s baby. Diana’s casual decision to get an abortion was something creator Meaghan Oppenheimer said she fought to depict, crediting Hulu and their work with Planned Parenthood to get the storyline right. “I had to push for that because for Diana, it’s not a sensitive thing. She’s just trying to get to her future. I’m sure it will upset some people, but it is how I felt about it,” the creator told THR. Still, Diana had to face the toxic wrath of the controlling Stephen, who doesn’t take it well when he hears she’s planning to have an abortion without consulting him.

“So much of it is getting blindsided by his insanity, and you’re just baffled by the ridiculousness of it all. But it was fun to slam the door in his face and to be like, ‘Yeah, whatever,’” Crowder tells The Hollywood Reporter of her episode four scene when Stephen confronts Diana. “But of course, you can’t do that with him because he always gets you back 10 times worse.”

Below, Mena and Crowder open up about going back to the beginning of their onscreen love story, navigating Diana’s pregnancy and abortion, that heated confrontation with Stephen, and what viewers can expect for the rest of season three.

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After that insane season two finale, what were you both looking forward to most about returning for season three? 

ALICIA CROWDER At the end of season two, [Diana] gets away, but I feel like no one ever gets off that easy in this show. So I was really excited and curious about how Stephen was going to basically rear his ugly head and continue to make her life hell. I was not disappointed, I guess. (Laughs.)

SONIA MENA Pippa’s kind of blue balled at the end of the season too. It all kind of comes at her… sorry to be disgusting (laughs). So I was excited to see where we were going to go because the stakes are so high and this girl has been holding so much, and then the break has obviously been hell. And what is she going to do, because a person can only hold it in so much?

Viewers learned Diana and Pippa are dating in the 2015 timeline last season, so how much did you enjoy going back to how it all started in college and playing out their relationship this season?

CROWDER I really, really enjoyed it. It was so nice. It’s such a nice break, because especially for season two, Diana’s living a lie in her relationship. It’s nice to be honest and be held.

Alicia, given that Diana is someone who has seemingly everything figured out, especially after playing Stephen at the end of season two, what was your reaction when you learned she was going to unexpectedly have a positive pregnancy test?

CROWDER I always feel blindsided, and I always think, should I have seen this coming? But no, the writers get me every time. But it’s really interesting. I was saying before that I think Diana is the last person you would expect for this to happen to because she is so methodical and so careful, and everything seems so well planned that when this happens, it’s a shock. It’s just another thing where life won’t let me move on from Stephen.

If she clearly didn’t want the news to get back to Stephen, why do you think she even told Molly (Katherine Hughes) in the first place? She knew Molly was sleeping with Evan, who is best friends with Stephen. 

CROWDER I think she thought Molly wouldn’t tell anyone. Also, we don’t see Diana with any other friends besides Molly and Pippa. They’re the only people she confides in. So the fact that Molly told Evan was just like, “What the hell?” I wrote down at some point the chain of people, because it ends with Pippa. Tracing that was kind of fun. But it’s college, people talk.

Can you talk me through Diana’s decision to have an abortion? Especially since abortion on screen is typically depicted as this really difficult decision for women, but that’s not always the case in real life, and it seems like an easy decision for Diana. What was it like showing that side of it?

CROWDER It’s something really different that I hadn’t seen depicted in this way before. There is some nuance and complexity that goes into it. Just because she knew immediately that she was definitely not going to have the baby, that doesn’t necessarily mean it was super straightforward or that that’s the only way that she felt about it. There’s some stuff that happened offscreen where she’s going through it, and then going through it physically and having to deal with telling Pippa. I think her decision was always very clear — there was no back and forth. But that it can take a toll in ways we don’t necessarily see.

You don’t have many scenes with Stephen this season, but the one you do have in episode four is pretty intense when he confronts Diana about the pregnancy. How did you prepare for that scene with Jackson White? 

CROWDER We didn’t do a ton of prep together, because I think for that scene specifically, we’re both coming from such different places and it was important for me to not necessarily feel … Well, first of all, because he knocks on the door and I don’t expect him, there’s a lot of surprise that plays into it. And then I really don’t expect him to tell me to keep the baby. I think so much of it is getting blindsided by his insanity, and you’re just baffled by the ridiculousness of it all. But it was fun to slam the door in his face and to be like, “Yeah, whatever.” But of course, you can’t do that with him because he always gets you back 10 times worse.

It’s also clear in that scene that Stephen can’t manipulate her anymore. How much did you enjoy being able to tell him, “I’m so excited to abort your baby,” after everything he put her through in past seasons? 

MENA Did you yell that line?

CROWDER Yes, I scream it (laughs). It’s so cathartic because she is so measured and careful and she knows if she does something to hurt him, he’s going to hurt her even worse. But it’s just her letting go in that moment and it definitely feels good. And she never gets to do that because the whole elaborate ruse last season was so quiet and private, so to be able to have that outburst was a great release.

Your characters also share an intimate moment in episode four, when Diana is going through the emotions of the pregnancy. How did you work with the intimacy coordinator to bring that scene to life? 

CROWDER These scenes are very specifically choreographed, which I think is helpful. With the camera and with nudity, you can’t ever just wing it. But I enjoy having that structure. We get that down so then we’re able to really let go and be free with each other within that structure that we’ve created together, if that makes sense.

MENA It’s also really different than other scenes I’ve shot and watched like this with my friends on the show, where it’s so the beginning of something. It goes very slow and it’s so much more about connection, and that was really cool to figure out together.

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Sonia, with Pippa living two different lives this season, how did you go about portraying them differently? Pippa seems more herself with Diana and is putting on a bit of an act with Wrigley.

MENA I just kind of let go of the idea that it would make sense. Similarly with my scenes with Lucy, I really let it go from being totally best friends to yelling at each other, and not worried as much about, does this track from one moment to the next? Because people are really erratic. She’s going through so much, maybe it’s just responding in the moment to what’s there. All of those dynamics are already set up with me and Wrigley, so you’re playing against that already.

What can you tease about Diana and Pippa for the last four episodes of the season?

CROWDER That’s a tough one (laughs). Expect the unexpected. You can’t predict what’s going to happen.

MENA Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, it does (laughs).

After reading and filming the season three finale, have you had any conversations with Meaghan and the cast and crew about the future of the show? Do you think there’s more story to be told after this season?

MENA I think there’s always more to be told, and there’s a lot that’s answered. But it’s not like we tie it up in a bow. Everything kind of ends in an explosion and we also have the rest of the entire semester. We only see the first two weeks of that semester. There’s so much fallout still to come.

CROWDER Because there are so many characters, there are so many details and loose ends that I think are still not wrapped up. There’s a lot of questions that haven’t been answered. So yeah, there’s always more to tell.

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The first four episodes of Tell Me Lies are currently streaming on Hulu. Check out all of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Tell Me Lies coverage, including our premiere interview with Jackson White and Oppenheimer.