Hulu Plots Tell Me Lies Follow-Up From Meaghan Oppenheimer

If you’ve just finished Tell Me Lies and are wondering what creator Meaghan Oppenheimer is up to next, you’re in luck — she’s not taking any long breaks. Oppenheimer is back at Hulu with a brand-new drama, lined up with that same big studio muscle behind her. And yes, she’s sticking to what she does best: complicated families, secrets, emotional messiness — all the ingredients for good TV if you ask me.

What We Know About 'Bastards'

So the new project is called Bastards. Not a sequel, not a spinoff — just Oppenheimer doing her own thing at Hulu, this time under the 20th Television banner. Quick recap of how this got moving: after she wrapped up production on Tell Me Lies, she got her script in fast, and apparently everyone at Hulu and 20th was immediately onboard. They’re now fast-tracking the series, so don’t be surprised if we start hearing casting news sooner than later.

Here’s the premise:

• It’s centered on a world-famous artist who gets herself caught up in some kind of very public scandal. Whatever it is, it’s big enough for her (very adult) kids — three of them, each with a different dad — to all make their way back to the family home.
• The twist? They’ve also got to look after their teenage sister, who they barely know at all.
• From there, it’s off to the races with old wounds, family drama, and what Hulu describes as an inheritance involving 'love, cruelty, and chaos.' Basically, expect the kind of generational chaos that makes you grateful you’re not in a TV family.

No, It's Not Tell Me Lies Season 4

Just to clear this up now: Bastards isn’t a continuation of Tell Me Lies. Tell Me Lies actually just finished its third and final season, so this is all fresh ground. That finale wrapped up Oppenheimer’s adaptation of Carola Lovering’s novel (the show starred Grace Van Patten and Jackson White, if you forgot who you were hate-watching or rooting for). For the stats people, Disney says all three seasons have racked up over 350 million streaming hours combined on Hulu and Disney+ since 2022. Not a bad run for a relationship drama that occasionally made me yell at my TV.

Oppenheimer's Resume: She’s Been Busy

If you somehow lost track of Oppenheimer before Tell Me Lies, here’s your refresher. She wrote for Fear the Walking Dead back when AMC was burning through end-of-the-world plots. She also created Queen America on Facebook Watch (remember when that was a thing?), featuring some legit names like Catherine Zeta Jones and Judith Light. Go back even further, and she wrote the ABC pilot Broken (which starred Anna Paquin and Blair Underwood) and contributed the screenplay for We Are Your Friends, which managed to put Zac Efron and Emily Ratajkowski in the same DJ booth. In other words, she’s been around the block, with a knack for drama in just about every format.

The Industry Side

This is probably more for the Hollywood-followers, but just FYI: Oppenheimer has an overall deal with 20th Television, so expect more of her scripts floating around Hulu in the future. She’s officially repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment, and Yorn Levine Barnes. That's basically a power trio in talent management, so she’s well-covered in the industry chess game.

Bottom line: If dysfunctional families and juicy secrets are your thing, keep an eye out for Bastards. If Hulu moves as quick as they’re hinting, we might not have to wait too long to see what Oppenheimer’s cooked up this time.