Jackson White and Grace Van Patten broke down the work that goes into seeing their Tell Me Lies characters’ point of view as Stephen and Lucy’s relationship took a turn for the worse in season 3.
During the three-part premiere, which aired on Tuesday, January 13, Stephen (White) and Van Patten (Lucy) returned to Baird College as a couple, but it only took a few days before everything fell apart. The toxic couple’s breakup was quite messy with Lucy being worried that Stephen would expose the fact that she slept with friend Bree’s (Cat Missal) now-ex-boyfriend Evan (Branden Cook).
Lucy decided to give Stephen different ammunition against her — the secret that she lied about being sexually assaulted by best friend Lydia’s (Natalee Linez) brother. Stephen forced Lucy to record the admission on tape, which he will now hold over her head.
For White, 29, playing a messy character such as Stephen required him to dig deep, exclusively telling Us Weekly, “It’s very important to give them humanity. That’s the only way this thing works.”
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The actor acknowledged that it can be “hard” to find empathy for Stephen.
“Three years of something is very hard,” he noted about playing the unpopular character. “I’ve never done that before. But I think we do a pretty good job of bringing some truth [to it].”
Van Patten, 29, had a similar process relating to Lucy. “It’s like any role I play where in order for the audience to understand them, we have to really understand them,” she said during the joint interview. “That means potentially justifying things we as humans might not justify. But in order to give service to the character, we have to find ways to understand that and understand their choices and find the truth in them.”
She continued: “That’s the fun part for me. And it’s really exciting — especially over three seasons — to go through Lucy’s actions and impulses.”
Based on Carola Lovering‘s novel of the same name, Tell Me Lies follows the messy relationship between college students Lucy and Stephen. Their problematic on-and-off romance lasts eight years — and everyone around them is affected by Lucy and Stephen’s ups and downs.
Showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer previously explained how the show tries not to pass judgment on Lucy and Stephen.
“[It is all about] trying to be as honest with them as possible and letting the characters speak organically as you are creating the scenes,” she told Us in August 2025. “I generally have a lot of empathy for flawed people. I never want to write a character who I’m completely judging just because I think it is boring.”
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Looking ahead, White and Van Patten acknowledged that there was something about Stephen and Lucy that made them messed-up soulmates.
“They definitely share something — whatever that is and if it’s obvious or not — where they are really drawn to each other for some reason. They feel seen by each other in a really, really messed up way,” she noted. “But it’s the only reason why this cycle is almost impossible to break.”
Van Patten concluded: “I don’t think they think that there are other people who would indulge in them like the other one does. They should not be together and it’s not healthy. But I think they do get something out of each other that’s really addicting.”
New episodes of Tell Me Lies premiere Tuesdays on Hulu.
