One of Us Is Lying (TV series)

One of Us Is Lying is an American teen drama mystery television series developed by Erica Saleh. The series is based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Karen M. McManus and follows five high school students who enter detention, where one of them dies under suspicious circumstances and an investigation ensues. It stars Mark McKenna as Simon, the deceased student, and Annalisa Cochrane, Chibuikem Uche, Marianly Tejada, and Cooper van Grootel as the main suspects, with Barrett Carnahan, Jessica McLeod, and Melissa Collazo, Sara Thompson and Alimi Ballard in supporting roles.

The series premiered on Peacock on October 7, 2021, and was met with generally positive reviews from critics. In January 2022, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on October 20, 2022. In January 2023, the series was canceled after two seasons.

Season one
At Bayview High, five students – Simon, Addy, Cooper, Bronwyn, and Nate – are given detention. Simon, known for starting an online gossip group called About That with his friend Janae to snitch on his classmates, suffers a fatal allergic reaction. Each student had a motive to kill Simon, and after it is determined his death was not an accident, an investigation is started. An anonymous user reveals the group's secrets on About That, and they try to work together to find the killer. They, along with Janae, later determine Addy's ex-boyfriend, Jake, killed Simon, but they accidentally shoot him.

Season two
A user called "Simon Says" tells Addy, Cooper, Bronwyn, Nate, and Janae that they must do as they say or a video proving they killed Jake will be sent to the police. Simon Says makes various demands as the group tries to figure out their identity. When they deduce that Simon Says is Fiona, Nate's tutor, she demands they hand over Addy, who pulled the gun's trigger and killed Jake. The group frame Fiona for Jake's murder, and she dies in jail.

Main

 * Annalisa Cochrane as Addy Prentiss, a popular cheerleader
 * Chibuikem Uche as Cooper Clay, a closeted baseball pitcher with a promising career
 * Marianly Tejada as Bronwyn Rojas, an overachiever focused on her future
 * Cooper van Grootel as Nate Macauley, a student and drug dealer on probation
 * Barrett Carnahan as Jake Riordan, the captain of the football team and Addy's boyfriend
 * Jessica McLeod as Janae Matthews, Simon's best friend
 * Mark McKenna as Simon Kelleher, the creator of an online gossip group who dies during detention (season 1, guest season 2)
 * Melissa Collazo as Maeve Rojas, Bronwyn's younger sister
 * Sara Thompson as Vanessa Clark, Addy's best friend and TJ's girlfriend (season 2, recurring season 1)
 * Alimi Ballard as Kevin Clay, Cooper's father and coach (season 2, recurring season 1)

Recurring

 * Zenia Marshall as Keely Moore, Cooper's girlfriend
 * George Ferrier as TJ Forrester, Jake's best friend who has a crush on Addy
 * Martin Bobb-Semple as Evan Nieman, Bronwyn's boyfriend
 * Karim Diané as Kris Greene, Cooper's secret boyfriend
 * Jacque Drew as Detective Laura Wheeler
 * Valerie Cruz as Isabella Rojas, Bronwyn and Maeve's mother
 * Hugo Ateo as Javier Rojas, Bronwyn and Maeve's father (season 1)
 * Miles J. Harvey as Lucas Clay, Cooper's younger brother (season 1)
 * Ali Liebert as Ann Prentiss, Addy's mother
 * Purva Bedi as Principal Gupta
 * Andi Crown as Ms. Avery, an AP Physics teacher at Bayview High (season 1)
 * Errol Shand as Brad Macauley, Nate's father (season 1)
 * Aidee Walker as Ellen Macauley, Nate's mother
 * Joe Witkowski as Cole Riordan, Jake's brother (season 2)
 * Doralynn Mui as Fiona Jennings, a new student at Bayview (season 2, guest season 1)
 * Emma Jenkins-Purro as Giselle Ward (season 2)

Development
In September 2017, Universal Cable Productions reportedly acquired the rights to One of Us Is Lying—the debut novel of Karen M. McManus—in a competitive situation and would produce a television series adaptation to be released on E!. In August 2019, the project was moved to NBCUniversal, who gave the then-unreleased streaming service Peacock its first pilot order with the series.

Following the success of his Spanish Netflix series Elite, Darío Madrona received several offers to work on American television series; one such offer was for One of Us Is Lying. Madrona thought the show would provide something "a little brighter" than traditional mystery stories and found the novel "super addictive"—he was also intrigued by the flawed and untruthful characters, and saw the project as a chance to explore more profound themes of friendship, love and want. After accepting the offer, Madrona met with the producers and studio and was hired as showrunner.

In September 2019, it was reported that Jennifer Morrison would direct the pilot episode. On August 12, 2020, the project became the first from Peacock to receive a series order. On January 14, 2022, Peacock renewed the series for a second season, with Saleh replacing Madrona as showrunner.

Writing and adaptation
While McManus was not involved in outlining the season, she was given the opportunity to review scripts. McManus stated that her main objective was to keep her characters' "emotional cores" intact. In an interview, Madrona was asked if the series would stay faithful to its source material; he responded by saying, "We've been faithful to the spirit of the story and the themes and the characters, but also trying to add some little twists and turns here and there so we can surprise readers of the book." Madrona found the idea of a single season that tells a complete story while solving the show's biggest mystery very satisfying. He also claimed that after a season, viewers often lost interest in a show and stopped watching. Because of this, the series reveals who killed Simon, but many other questions are left unanswered at the end of the first season.

The second season deviated from its source material. According to Saleh, the crew were eager to write about the show's characters again and continue the first season's narrative. She did not want to adapt the second book because it stars a different cast of characters, and the team wanted to carry on exploring the original characters. Saleh found it both "exciting and freeing" and "a little nerve-wracking" to write the second season without the novels as a blueprint for the plot. Since the writers knew their audience enjoyed the books and their characters, they wanted to make sure they were "really continuing to deliver on the heart of the characters that [McManus] created". While the first season focuses on themes of living honestly and breaking away from stereotypes, the second emphasises the consequences of doing so.

Casting
In October 2019, Marianly Tejada, Cooper van Grootel, Annalisa Cochrane, Chibuikem Uche, Jessica McLeod, Barrett Carnahan, and Melissa Collazo were announced as part of the cast. In 2021, Mark McKenna was confirmed as a series regular in July; Martin Bobb-Semple, Karim Diane, George Ferrier, Miles J. Harvey, Zenia Marshall, and Sara Thompson were announced as part of the recurring cast in August; and Alimi Ballard was confirmed in October. In May 2022, Joe Witkowski and Doralynn Mui joined the cast in recurring roles for the second season.

Filming
Filming for the pilot took place in Vancouver, Canada—from November 2 to November 20, 2019. Scenes were shot at several local sites, including Central Park; Blenheim Street; West 53rd Avenue; and a parking lot on Boundary Road. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the crew had difficulties restarting production. They decided to film the rest of the show in New Zealand. According to producer Matt Groesch, the beaches on the country's east coast provided an excellent match to those in Southern California. The crew visited many locations, such as Auckland, the North Shore, and Waiwera. Groesch had to figure out a method to replicate the high school setting in Auckland as they had previously been shot elsewhere in the pilot. Several locations were used, including the AUT Millennium and the ASB Showgrounds. The team used Rangitoto College as the backdrop for Bayview High's rival school. The remaining seven episodes started shooting on May 10, 2021. Due to a COVID-19 lockdown, the last few days of production shifted to Ontario, Canada. Filming concluded in late September 2021. Production returned to New Zealand for the second season.

Cancelation
On January 20, 2023, Peacock canceled the series after two seasons. According to Deadline Hollywood, Peacock executives were satisfied with the show's creative output, but it was unable to attract the necessary viewership to support more seasons.

Release
The first three episodes premiered on Peacock on October 7, 2021, followed by three episodes on October 14, and the final two episodes of the first season on October 21. All eight episodes of season two were released on Peacock on October 21, 2022. On Netflix, the seasons were released on February 18 and November 16, 2022, respectively.

Reception
Before its premiere, critics were given the first three episodes to review. From The Wall Street Journal, John Anderson said the series was difficult to categorize and wrote that "the way it careens its way through its various plot points, unencumbered by the need for explanations or narrative development" is what set the series apart as storytelling. He, however, felt that that was unnecessary, saying: "The conclusion will be a surprise, one assumes. But the getting there is, as they might say in French class, déjà vu." Brad Newsome, writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, said the story "deftly tweaks its balance of suspicions to keep things interesting, but it's McKenna and Van Grootel who really pull focus." The Hollywood Reporter's Angie Han said the series was missing a spark to set it apart from similar programming, with characters that feel like "archetypes! a "sour, dour mood, with few moments of either levity or raw pain". and dull colors that "keep the show's emotions at arm's length". She opined that due to its lack of "notable quirks or deep insights", the series is likely to be forgotten by the viewer once it ends.