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After almost two years of waiting, it's finally time to get some answers about the fate of Lucy and Stephen's love story

Published Time: 19.07.2024 - 18:31:09 Modified Time: 19.07.2024 - 18:31:09

After almost two years of waiting, it's finally time to get some answers about the fate of Lucy and Stephen's love story.

PEOPLE can exclusively share the first photos from season 2 of Tell Me Lies – featuring a new love interest for Lucy (Grace Van Patten)! — and share that season 2 will premiere with its first two episodes on Hulu on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

Season 2 is "more of a war story than a love story," showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer tells PEOPLE, as Lucy "begins the season on an attempted redemption arc," while she's also "out for revenge" following the jaw-dropping events of the season 1 finale.

"This season really cuts me to my core in a deeper way," Oppenheimer says. "It pulls on the heartstrings a little bit more while keeping that really propulsive, thrilling, kind of nasty undertone that everyone loves about it."

In the first-look photos, fans get their first glimpse at the show's three major couples – Lucy and Stephen (Jackson White); Bree (Catherine Missal) and Evan (Branden Cook); and Wrigley (Spencer House) and Pippa (Sonia Mena) – as well as a group shot of Lucy, Bree and Pippa (welcome back puswas!).

Two new additions are also on display: Leo (Thomas Doherty) — who seems to have some clear chemistry with Lucy in one of the shots — and Oliver (Tom Ellis) — who plays a "hot college professor" who Oppenheimer says adds a level of maturity to the show "because he's 45, and having him against these kids, you remember how young they are."

The first season of Tell Me Lies – which was based on Carola Lovering's novel of the same name — left off in October 2022 with the bombshell reveal that Stephen was engaged to Lucy's high school best friend Lydia (Natalee Linez) in the flash-forward – and at the same time, Bree remained unaware that Lucy and Evan had hooked up during college.

Oppenheimer says that season 2 will similarly tell the story in two timelines – one in 2008, when the friends are in college together at Baird, and one in 2015, when Evan and Bree are getting married, and that's where she says most of the season's "shocking moments happen."

While the story is still "hugely in Lucy and Steven world," Oppenheimer says there's more of a focus on expanding the storylines of the whole friend group this time.

"It's definitely still Lucy and Stephen at the core. They're definitely the through line of the show. But my intention going into this show, even from season one was: What are the repercussions within a friend group from one central set of li -

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Among the questions that stand to be answered is just how much Bree knows about her fiancé's past with Lucy and how Stephen's renewed relationship with Diana (Alicia Crowder) will fare – as one of the first-look photos sees the on-again-off-again couple sitting side-by-side in class.

Wrigley and Pippa, meanwhile, are likely as on the rocks as ever.

In another first-look photo, the football player stares deeply into his ex-girlfriend's eyes, and while they're sitting apart, there's an undeniable tension between them. They ended season 1 broken up, but in the 2015 storyline, there seemed to be lingering feelings that will likely be explored in season 2.

There's also Leo to consider. "We really wanted to avoid the pitfalls of the obvious new love interest that isn't really a threat and isn't really a competitor. We wanted someone who is a true love rival to Stephen and someone that we could really see Lucy with – whether or not the audience will root for him," Oppenheimer says.

Doherty's character has "a lot of the same intensity as Stephen, but deals with it and externalizes it in a completely different way," she adds, and what's more – he makes Lucy laugh.

"We haven't seen Lucy laugh a lot with a guy, and we really wanted that side of her to come out, because we forget this character's only 19 and she's been in such a toxic place that she wasn't really able to be playful and be a 19-year-old and kind of be silly and laugh. And we definitely see more of that side of Lucy this year."

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According to the official synopsis, season 2 picks up at the beginning of a new school year, with Lucy and Stephen "not speaking after their dramatic breakup at the start of the summer."

"While very much at odds, they find themselves in a new version of their addictive dynamic - which is as infuriating as it is inescapable. Meanwhile, the story expands deeper into the lives of Lucy and Stephen’s friend group as the fallout from Season One impacts all of their lives in unexpected ways."

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Tell Me Lies season 2 premieres its first two episodes on Wednesday, Sept. 4 on Hulu. The remaining episodes premiere weekly.