Big Little Lies season 2: Meryl Streep joins star-studded cast

The 21-time Oscar nominee will earn a reported $800,000 per episode

Big Little Lies has been scooping awards left, right, and centre over the past few weeks, cast members Nicole Kidman, Alexander Skarsgård, and Laura Dern all taking home Emmys.

While there’s no shortage of actors wanting to work on the sequel series, few could predict creator David E. Kelley would land the most celebrating actor of all time: Meryl Streep.

The 21-time Oscar nominee has been confirmed to play Mary Louise Wright, the mother of Perry Wright (Skarsgård). According to Variety, the iconic actor will earn around $800,000 per episode — should Steep appear in all seven episodes of the second season, she could land up to $5.6 million for working on the series.

While Big Little Lies was originally meant to be a limited series, HBO announced a second season last December with Kelley writing a screenplay based on a new story by author Liane Moriarty.

Most original cast members are expected to return. Jean-Marc Vallée, who directed all seven episodes, has stepped into a producer role. Andrea Arnold — best known for helming the movies Fish Tank, Wuthering Heights, and American Honey, along with TV episodes of Transparent — takes over as director for all seven episode of season two.

Reese Witherspoon and Kidman return as executive producers, Witherspoon saying of returning: “I’m thrilled to be bringing back this talented team of artists. It gives us the opportunity to delve deeper into the lives of these intriguing and intricate Monterey families and bring more of their stories back to the audience who embraced and championed them.

"I’m beyond excited to be working with talented and acclaimed director Andrea Arnold who will be at the helm. Andrea’s unique storytelling style will be a welcome addition to the filmmaking team.”