EXCLUSIVE: Laura Dern Says 1 Major Thing Will Change for Renata in Season 2 of ‘Big Little Lies’

*Warning: Spoilers ahead*

We know and love Laura Dern as the wildly successful, headstrong, ferociously protective Renata Klein of Big Little Lies. And while the first season of the series was utter chaos for her character, Dern says the sophomore installation of BLL marks a major change for Renata.

In honor of Equal Pay Day, (ahem, today), we spoke with the 52-year-old Golden Globe winner exclusively about her career-long endeavor to close the wage gap and the NUT-trition commercial she executive produced to highlight the issue. And, as die-hard Big Little Lies fans, we of course had to ask what season two of the hit HBO series has in store for us when it premieres in June.  

So what’s going on with Renata Klein, Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon), Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman), Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) and Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) in the wake of Perry’s (Alexander Skarsgård) accidental-ish death? Well, since it’s an HBO series with a ton of clout, mum’s the word, but Dern was kind enough to spill a detail or two.

“I’m not supposed to give an answer to that question or any question about what anybody’s doing,” Dern prefaced her answer. “But I think it’s fair to say that [given] where we left off, it’s now a group of women who have found a tribe to connect to, which is a huge deal for Renata, needless to say.”

She went on to point out that it’s a total shift for Renata to have “any friends,” let alone “female friends.”

In season one, Renata was on the outside of the elementary school mom group central to the story. And although she made sure Amabella (Ivy George) had the most lavish birthday party jam-packed with parents and kids, she didn’t necessarily have friends of her own. This was made even more apparent as Amabella’s whole bullying situation became magnified. But after she watched Perry fall to his death at Bonnie’s hands, she bonded with her fellow moms—so much so that she’s now part of a “tribe.”

That’s a spoiler we definitely didn’t see coming.