Jackson White: Lucy, Stephen ‘super-bad for each other’ in ‘Tell Me Lies’

NEW YORK, Sept. 4 (UPI) — Grace Van Patten and Jackson White say fans should not root for their characters, Lucy and Stephen, to be a couple unless they first become healthier versions of themselves in Hulu’s romantic thriller, Tell Me Lies.

“Oh, no,” Van Patten told UPI in a recent Zoom interview about whether people should wish for a Lucy and Stephen Season 2 reunion after a spectacular split at the end of Season 1.

“There should be hope for these two people separately,” Van Patten said. “They both need to be OK separately and they’re not, so to root for them together would be like enabling both their behaviors towards each other.

“I wouldn’t want that for either of them, but, of course, there’s a hopefulness. I hope they figure it out and are good to each other, but I don’t know.”

White also acknowledges the fictional relationship is toxic, but really wants Lucy and Stephen to keep trying.

“I love them, but they’re super-bad for each other. We all know that,” White said.

“I don’t know if it’ll ever work for those two. They’re pretty bad. They’re not very nice to each other now, no, but I would like to see a universe where they work it out.”

Season 2 of the series premieres Wednesday.

With showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer at the helm, it picks up as Lucy and Stephen returned to their East Coast college after their very public breakup, which is causing shock waves through their shared-friends group.

Catherine Missal and Sonia Mena play Lucy’s besties Bree and Pippa, respectively. Spencer House and Branden Cook play Evan and Wrigley, Stephen’s roommates, and Alicia Crowder plays Diana, Stephen’s on-off girlfriend.

Season 1 of the adaptation of Carola Lovering’s popular novel took place in two timelines: 2008 when the group is in college and 2015 when the friends reunite for Bree and Evan’s engagement party.

Van Patten describes the second season as “just as crazy” as the first.

“It really shows how these two people are addicted to each other and how their dynamic continues even when they’re not together,” the actress said about Lucy and Stephen. “They’re just not quite ready to let go, and it manifests through vengeance as opposed to love.”

Van Patten said she got a kick out of how hard Lucy tries to show Stephen she has moved on from him when she returns to start her sophomore year of college, which coincides with his last.

“Lucy comes in really trying to overcompensate with the girls [Bree and Pippa], and in a way that seems quite unnatural, but she’s really trying to solidify those friendships and be a good friend and redeem herself,” Van Patten said.

“There ends up being some complications, but she’s really trying, and I really like that part of [the season],” she added.

Stephen also is acting strangely with his friends, especially Evan, who has chosen not to room with Stephen for their senior year of college.

“He’s also overcompensating with Evan and Wrigley, trying to make amends for anything last year and he’s just doing his best, whatever his version of being a good friend looks like. He’s trying to do that,” White said about Stephen.

At the end of the Season 1 and 2008 story line, Stephen is seen reuniting with Diana and taking a summer job at her father’s law firm, sending a furious Lucy into a very drunk Evan’s arms.

In another twist, Stephen appears with new love Lydia (Natalee Linez) at Bree and Evan’s engagement party in 2015.

“Stephen pairs himself with someone that will help him. I think he experiences real human emotions and love, as well, but he also always has a plan and I think you see that he’s pretty career-oriented and he wants to have his partner line up with that,” White explained about why Stephen chooses to be with Diana and Lydia, as opposed to Lucy.

“There’s a mixture of ulterior motives and, maybe, some love,” he added.

The show can be emotionally intense at times, requiring the actors to be vulnerable in their performances.

Van Patten and White said they get through this by always having each other’s backs and building up trust between them.

“Jackson is just extremely talented and an amazing person, and there’s no other way but to feel safe and comfortable with him onset and offset,” Van Patten said. “So, thank goodness, because to play these two characters, you have to be able to be vulnerable, and I’m so thankful that it was with him.”

White agreed.

“I don’t think this would work without a generous person — a loving, thoughtful, grounded person,” he said. “That’s why I think the show works. We can do whatever we want because we know it’s all good with each other.”