Book to Screen
‘Tell Me Lies’: Does Lucy End Up With Stephen in the Book?
Tell Me Lies has captivated viewers around the globe, especially millennials who grew up in the early 2000s. The Hulu series, based on Carola Lovering’s novel of the same name, has transported us back to the early aughts when “Mr. Brightside” was the song everyone was listening to and low-rise jeans were all the rage.
Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen’s (Jackson White) toxic relationship begins at Baird University and continues to impact their lives long after they’ve broken up. So, how faithful has the show been to the book so far? We’re diving into the pages of Lovering’s book and looking back at the show so far to see where Season 3 (and beyond) might be headed. If you haven’t read the book, beware of spoilers below!
Josh Stringer / Hulu / Disney / Everett Collection
Is the Tell Me Lies book different than the show?
From the jump, there’s a key difference between the book and the Hulu series. While the show’s focal point is Lucy, Lovering’s novel is told through both Lucy and Stephen’s points of view. Stephen is extremely manipulative in both the book and the show, but the book gets inside his head and shows just how diabolical he really is toward everyone around him.
There are several other changes the show made from book to screen. In the book, Lucy and Diana never even meet, and we only learn about Diana through Stephen’s chapters. That means there’s no Diana and Pippa relationship in the book.
Macy’s death plays out differently in the show and the book. In the show, Macy (Lily McInerny) winds up being Lucy’s roommate, but she dies early in the semester. She dies instantly after Stephen, who was driving drunk, crashes a car. He switches her into the driver’s seat and later blames Drew (Benjamin Wadsworth), who was also driving impaired that night, for what happened after Lucy begins to put the pieces of Macy’s death together. The tragedy bonds Lucy and Stephen, and the situation has a lasting impact on Drew.
Drew, who is not in the book at all, leaves Baird and has a falling out with his older brother, Wrigley (Spencer House), in the aftermath of Macy’s death. When he returns for a visit in Season 2, he dies from an accidental drug overdose.
In the book, Macy is Lucy’s childhood friend. She dies before Lucy leaves for college. Lucy later discovers that Stephen was secretly dating Macy. When a drunken Stephen crashed the car, Macy was performing a sexual act on him. In a roundabout way, Lucy confronts Stephen about Macy at Bree and Evan’s wedding, but the greenhouse confession scene never happens in the book.
Additional changes between the book and show include Lucy’s mom having an affair with Gabe Petersen, the guy Lucy was crushing on and who also happened to be Macy’s brother. In the book, Stephen is engaged to a woman named Jillian, not Lydia.
Baird College is located in California in the book, while the series is set in Upstate New York. Lucy also has an eating disorder in the novel, which has not been explored in the show.
Are Lucy and Stephen together in the show?
Lucy and Stephen are not together at the start of Season 2. Stephen is back with Diana (Alicia Crowder), while Lucy spends the summer trying to forget Stephen. She meets a new guy named Leo (Thomas Doherty) and begins a relationship with him. However, Stephen consistently tries to sabotage Lucy’s relationship.
By the end of the season, Stephen and Diana have split. Diana orchestrates a plan where Stephen is the one to break off their relationship. Stephen also sets Lucy and Leo’s breakup into motion. After hooking up with Lucy, Stephen taunts Leo about it, and Leo brutally beats Stephen up. Lucy and Stephen end up back together in the college timeline.
In the post-college timeline, Lucy and Stephen have a secret hookup before Bree (Cat Missal) and Evan’s (Branden Cook) wedding, despite being in relationships with other people. (Stephen is engaged to Lydia, Lucy’s former best friend.) When it’s time for the wedding, Stephen is a no-show. However, he does send Bree a recording of Evan’s college confession about sleeping with Lucy.
Do Lucy and Stephen end up together in the book?
No, thankfully, Lucy and Stephen do not end up together at the end of the book. While they do reunite after Stephen leaves for law school (which hasn’t been seen in the show yet), they have broken up.
By the end of the book, Lucy has finally broken the Stephen spell. He tries to pull his old tricks at Bree and Evan’s wedding and coax her back into his orbit, but he’s lost his touch — literally and figuratively. “Maybe he was magic to me once, but he isn’t anymore. The pedestal has finally vanished, yet somehow, the relief in knowing I’m over him doesn’t make me want to sing from the hilltops. It just makes me want to go and do something else,” Lucy says.
Will the show return for Season 3?
Yes! Tell Me Lies was renewed for a third season in December 2024. Season 3 doesn’t have a release date yet, but the writers’ room is currently underway.
Tell Me Lies, Season 3, TBA, Hulu
