“Big Little Lies” Season 2 premiered Sunday to 2.5 million total viewers across multiple platforms. That tally was 34% better than Season 1’s start (1.8 million), but down slightly from its finale (2.6 million).
The all-in sum counts multiple linear plays and viewings from streaming services HBO Go and HBO Now.
The 9 p.m. airing averaged 1.4 million viewers, a linear count that bests “BLL’s” first season premiere, which pulled in 1.1 million viewers in its 9 o’clock slot on Feb. 19, 2017, but was outdone by the Season 1 closer, which scored 1.9 million viewers on April 2, 2017.
The continuation beyond the book — which saw the addition of Meryl Streep to a cast that includes Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Zoe Kravitz, Laura Dern and Shailene Woodley — delivered series highs for a Sunday on both HBO Go and Now, with the combined platforms up 240% from the “BLL” Season 1 premiere and up 77% from the first year’s finale.
Per HBO, “Big Little Lies” Season 1 averaged 8.5 million multiplatform viewers.
The pay-TV channel’s adaptation of the Liane Moriarty novel was intended as a miniseries and not expected to return for a second season, but it proved to be such a big hit that HBO just couldn’t let it go. David E. Kelley returned as showrunner and executive producer for Season 2, with Andrea Arnold taking over as director for all seven episodes.
“Big Little Lies” Season 2 airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.