[This story contains major spoilers from the Tell Me Lies series finale, “Are You Happy Now, That I’m on My Knees?”]
If you were so caught up in the toxicity of the Tell Me Lies series finale, you might have missed the final line of dialogue. Creator Meaghan Oppenheimer pointed out during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter that it actually wasn’t Lucy or Stephen who got the last word.
“What’s really funny, that no one has commented on, is that the last line of dialogue in our entire show is a cat yelling, which I was very excited about,” she quipped.
In the final scene of the series, when Lucy (Grace Van Patten) goes into the gas station to get coffee for her and Stephen (Jackson White) after Stephen effectively blew up this friend group, an adorable black cat lets out a loud meow just as Lucy’s walking out. It ushers in the final moment when Lucy realizes Stephen left her in the dust after she exited the wedding by his side, again.
As for how the cat got there, Oppenheimer reveals she has one rule when it comes to the shows she creates: “I have to put a cat in any season of anything I do” because she “fucking loves cats.”
“It is literally a rule,” she explains. “It was like, ‘We don’t have a cat in this season, do we?’ And I was like, ‘Oh fuck, we haven’t put a cat in. We got to get a cat.’ So it was very funny on set that day. We were out in the middle of nowhere and they got this cat in and they were like, ‘We’re holding for the cat. We got to get this cat.’ And everyone was so annoyed. I was like, ‘We’re getting the cat guys.’”
Oppenheimer adds, “I was really happy to get that cat in and for it to be the last line of dialogue, I just thought it was so funny.”
She also notes that the cat casting process is interesting, “because they send you a portfolio of cat pictures. And I’m like, ‘How can I choose? They’re all such good boys. I love them all.’”
While that cat may never know how iconic he truly is, the feline friend may want to watch his back — because Tell Me Lies fans know how much Stephen likes to win and get the last word.
As for that Lucy and Stephen ending, Oppenheimer previously explained in her deep dive with THR on the finale that the moment when Stephen abandons Lucy at the gas station is ultimately what frees her from their relationship. The scene marks the end of the series, which Oppenheimer confirmed heading into the finale.
“I didn’t know exactly what the last scene was going to be,” she said. “I said to the [writer] room, ‘I want her to choose him one last time, but it’s as if he just leaves her on the side of the road and drives away.’ And they were like, ‘He could literally just leave her at the side of the road and drive away.’ Once we found that, it felt really perfect. I realized that as satisfying as it would be for Lucy to have the last word and reject him, that would not have actually freed her because Stephen will always come back unless he gets to be the one to reject someone. He will always come back if he’s rejected because he has to have the final word. He did with Diana, he’s done it with Lucy. So this actually is the one thing to free her.”
All episodes of Tell Me Lies are currently streaming on Hulu. Check out all of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Tell Me Lies season three coverage here.
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