Big Little Lies is one of the most talked-about shows on television right now. The acclaimed first season followed the lives of five very different women and their families in a rich California society. As the characters deal with their complex and often dark personal lives, there is also a murder at the center of it all.
The intrigue and drama continue in Season 2 with the notable addition of Meryl Streep to the already impressive cast. With each episode diving deeper into this pretty but disturbed society, the show is incredibly addicting. So if you're enjoying the show and want more of the same, there are similar shows that can scratch that itch.
Updated on January 5th, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: Big Little Lies is an engaging show with a strong female-led cast of women who have a connection that will bond them for the rest of their lives. The show has countless secrets and alliances are formed amongst the tight-knit community and rumors run wild and quickly get out of control. We've added a few more shows like Big Little Lies to our list that fans will be able to enjoy for their similar acting pedigree, memorable characters, and thrilling drama, with it all making for some truly unmissable TV.
Succession
Succession follows the Roy family who is an extremely wealthy and successful dynasty family that has an insane amount of infighting and plotting within the family. Alliances are formed in and out of the family and the audience is never sure who to trust on the show leading to a shocking end to season two.
The show is similar to Big Little Lies as it portrays a unique world full of secrets and distrust while also revealing shocking information throughout.
This Is Us
This Is Us shifts back and forth between several timelines of past, present, and future of the Pearson family and everyone involved in their lives. Even though the family has a perfect facade and try to keep their memories of their past life with their father pristine, the show introduces a lot of drama.
The characters on This Is Us like to keep secrets from each other and tend to choose sides when issues arise in the family making it a pretty similar setup to Big Little Lies.
Show Me A Hero
Show Me a Hero is an HBO miniseries based on real-life events of public housing being introduced in a small town in New York in the 1970s. People in the community fight against a new ruling claiming that they have to introduce public housing and the implementation is left to the town's Mayor portrayed by Oscar Isaac.
The small town politics quickly become ugly and overwhelming and the stakes are raised as the series continues, making it pretty similar to Big Little Lies.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel centers on a woman, Midge Maisel, in the 1950s determined to follow her passion for stand-up comedy despite an uphill battle of it being a male-dominated profession. After learning that her husband has been cheating on her,
Midge takes control of her life by getting a job for herself at a department store and working on her comedy act no matter how many negative comments she gets. Midge would fit nicely into the Big Little Lies main cast of strong women who take control of their lives.
Fleabag
Fleabag centers on protagonist Fleabag as she navigates her life after a tragic event and struggles with self-destructive behavior while trying to cope. She has a hilarious dry wit and typically doesn't have a filter when speaking her mind and has an odd relationship with her father and godmother and has an interesting yet deeply caring relationship with her sister.
The relationships, drama, well-developed female characters, and hilarity of the show make it pretty similar to Big Little Lies.
Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars doesn't just make the list because of the confusingly similar name of the show. This Freeform series is based on the book series of the same name and followed a group of popular high school girls whose friendship dissolved after the disappearance of their clique's leader. However, after being contacted by a mysterious person, they risk having their darkest secrets exposed.
Though they are both unique shows, there are many similarities between the two. From being book adaptations to the female protagonists to the dark secrets, fans of Big Little Lies should find plenty to like here.
Jessica Jones
Jessica Jones may be a superhero show in a genre sense, but there is a lot more going on beneath the surface. The Netflix series followed Krysten Ritter as the titular private investigator with super strength. Jones also became part of Netflix's The Defenders, but her solo series was the more interesting show.
Although she is an incredibly strong hero who can go toe-to-toe with just about any other Marvel character, Jones is also a damaged character. Like Big Little Lies, the series goes to some very intense places in its depiction of abuse and the aftermath of living with such an experience.
The O.C
Big Little Lies is hardly the first series to draw on the public's fascination with wealthy societies. The O.C. was a Fox drama series that told the story of a troubled young man from a broken home who is taken in by a caring and wealthy family living in Orange County, California.
The series took great pleasure to depict the excesses of such a wealthy lifestyle as well as show the seedier side of this kind of society. There were plenty of murders, affairs, and secrets in The O.C. While it was a bit more of a prime-time soap opera than Big Little Lies, it could appeal to the same crowd.
The Handmaid's Tale
The Handmaid's Tale is the acclaimed Hulu series based on the massively popular book by Margaret Atwood. It takes place in a dystopian future where women are relegated to the roles of childbearing and nothing more. Selected Handmaidens are used by the wealthy men of the society to carry their children.
The disturbing nature of this fictitious reality might seem farfetched, the show does touch on a lot of issues and abuses that are very real today. Like Big Little Lies, this show is focused on telling those difficult truths about how women can be mistreated in society.
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is another one of those prime-time soap operas. The series follows a group of women living in the same seemingly idyllic suburban communities, each with their own dark secrets. And like Big Little Lies, it all starts with a mysterious death.
Desperate Housewives is certainly more light and outrageous than most of the other shows on this list, but it does feel like it's in a similar vein to Big Little Lies. The women take center stage and are the main focus of all the salacious intrigue that occurs in their picturesque neighborhood.
Killing Eve
Killing Eve is one of the most interesting shows on television these days. It just finished its second season in the twisted and darkly comedic tale of an MI6 agent who is hunting a female assassin. Through their dangerous game of cat and mouse, they find that they are both obsessed with each other.
While Big Little Lies is much more atmospheric and slower-paced, Killing Eve is a fast, energetic, and action-packed thrill-ride. But there are some very clear similarities in their depiction of the modern woman's life, the dangerous relationships, and, of course, murder.
Revenge
Big Little Lies does a great job exploring the grey area of high society. No one is good or evil, they are all people who make mistakes and try to do what they think is right. Revenge focuses more on the villainy of the wealthy and elite, and the show has a lot of fun with it.
The series follows a young woman who seeks to infiltrate the wealthy inner circle of the Hamptons elite so she can take revenge on the people responsible for framing and killing her father. The secrets run deep in this series as well. It explores the sex, murder, and dark web of lies among these rich people.
Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars is a show with such a strong cult following that it just refuses to stay off the air. After being canceled in 2007 at the end of its third season, Veronica Mars has returned for a movie and now a fourth season is premiering.
The series follows Kristen Bell as a young private investigator who solves various mysteries in her upper-class California town. In her many investigations, she uncovers the darkest and deadliest secrets of the town's wealthiest residents. The series also deals with darker issues concerning Veronica and her own past.
Sharp Objects
Big Little Lies is a primes example of how the storytelling possibilities of television have attracted some amazing talent in recent years. Sharp Objects is another great example of this as the miniseries stars Amy Adams and comes from author Gillian Flynn. It is also directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, who is a director on Big Little Lies.
The series follows Adams as a reporter with a dark past who returns to her hometown to investigate the murders of two young girls. The exploration of a family's darkest secrets and the aesthetic of Vallée's direction make this feel like a very similar show, despite their individual complexities.
The Affair
Big Little Lies starts with the investigation of a murder and then flashes back in time to reveal how these characters got to this place. The Affair uses a similar technique in the story of a man from a wealthy family who has an affair with a troubled girl and how their relationship results in a murder.
The same events are told through various people's perspectives, showing the inconsistencies and lies that are told when remembering. The family drama of the affair and the subsequent drama that unfolds because of it is all very reminiscent of Big Little Lies in the best way.