'Big Little Lies' Finale Is Almost Here

With a high-profile line-up, including talent (like Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon) who almost exclusively have appeared in movies only, Big Little Lies was always bound to be one of 2017's most talked-about series. It was also touted as a passion project for both Witherspoon and Kidman, who both serve as executive producers via their individual production companies, Pacific Standard and Blossom (respectively). But appearing on HBO, it was clear that the story would unfold over a short season. Just over halfway through its run, many viewers are now wondering: When is the Big Little Lies finale?

Courtesy of HBO's TV listings schedule, the season finale is called "You Get What You Need" and is due to air for the first time on Sunday, April 2 in the show's standard 9 p.m. ET slot. Interestingly, the show is a seven-episode season, unlike the channel's usual minimum for shows that fall into the anthology, miniseries, or limited series format. (Each of True Detective's two seasons were eight episodes apiece, as was The Night Of's first run.)

The seven-episode season was purposeful, according to Variety's feature on the show with interviews from Witherspoon and Jean-Marc Vallée (who directed all of the episodes and was hand-picked by Witherspoon for this gig, having directed her in 2014's Wild). While the show was originally set as an eight-episode series, screenwriter David E. Kelley (who penned all seven episodes) turned in seven scripts, "which he felt completed the narrative."

This makes sense, given the Liane Moriarty bestseller of the same name on which the show is based — the story has a finite ending point that will be reached in the finale, and Kelley was working with only one book's worth of material. There are no sequels continuing the same story, and so we're not going to get another season of brilliantly complex moms that we don't often get to see elsewhere in movies or on TV.

Unfortunately, the show will soon end — there are somehow only three episodes left!! — and fans will be out of their scheduled weekly dose of Witherspoon (something everybody needs in their life, TBH). Most tragically, viewers will no longer get to hear her character Madeleine bust out with instantly classic lines like, "You can go f*ck yourself right on the head."

Elle Woods would be oh-so-proud.

In the meantime, check out HBO's preview for the upcoming episode, "Once Bitten," airing Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.

It's so wrong, but I'm 'shipping Madeleine and Joseph so hard. Anybody else? Come on, I know I'm not alone here.