--- title: Everyone Scream for Meryl Streep's Big Little Lies Scream description: The Oscar winner made a big debut on the HBO series. canonical: https://time.com/5603746/big-little-lies-meryl-streep-scream/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-06-10T14:44:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:59:10.402Z og:title: Everyone's Screaming for Meryl Streep's Big Little Lies Scream og:description: The Oscar winner made a big debut on the HBO series. og:url: https://time.com/5603746/big-little-lies-meryl-streep-scream/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4df933987bf9d86b/69894a98457a5208efd611eb/biglittleliesnicolekidmanmerylstreep.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: BigLittleLiesNicoleKidmanMerylStreep og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Everyone's Screaming for Meryl Streep's Big Little Lies Scream twitter:description: The Oscar winner made a big debut on the HBO series. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4df933987bf9d86b/69894a98457a5208efd611eb/biglittleliesnicolekidmanmerylstreep.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Everyone Is Screaming for Meryl Streep's _Big Little Lies_ Scream by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 10, 2019 2:44 PM UTC  Jennifer Clasen/HBO by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 10, 2019 2:44 PM UTC I scream, you scream, we all scream for Meryl Streep’s scream on [_Big Little Lies_](http://motto.time.com/4674706/reese-witherspoon-nicole-kidman-little-big-lies/). HBO’s addictive soapy drama [returned to TV](https://time.com/5550014/big-little-lies-season-2-details/) on Sunday night with [Streep joining the show](https://time.com/5601973/how-tv-and-film-are-converging/)’s already star-studded cast. Joining Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, and Laura Dern on the award-winning series, the three-time Oscar winner instantly won fans over with her screaming ability. The second season of _Big Little Lies_ has one very notable arrival. And that’s none other than Mary Louise (Streep), playing Celeste’s (Nicole Kidman) mother-in-law. While Mary Louise is ostensibly in town to help the recently-widowed mother manage her two children, it’s quickly clear that Mary Louise is equally interested in finding out [what happened to her son](https://time.com/4722273/big-little-lies-finale-review/), Perry (Alexander Skarsgad). It’s obvious that Mary Louise is still working through her grief, and that becomes even more apparent when she lets loose with a heart-rending holler at the dinner table. When the yell fills the room, Kidman’s Celeste looks horrified and her young sons are stunned into silence. The scream is so convincing that it almost explains why Witherspoon described her first day on the _Big Little Lies_ set with Streep as “[terrifying](https://ew.com/tv/2019/05/29/big-little-lies-reese-witherspoon-meryl-streep-gma/)”. Fans can’t get enough of the scream, quickly turning it into a Twitter meme and [a Reddit joke](https://www.reddit.com/r/biglittlelies/comments/bysrc4/meryl%5Fgoes%5Fmetal/), with everyone pretty much agreeing that with just one gut-wrenching holler, Streep earned herself an Emmy nod. > [](https://twitter.com/nakedbard/status/1137949424552882176) > [](https://twitter.com/dawerdboy/status/1138015411499409409) > [](https://twitter.com/cherakagoddess/status/1137937241534337025) > [](https://twitter.com/tvisgreat/status/1137897671975419904) > [](https://twitter.com/sufihamilton/status/1138077697198972929) > [](https://twitter.com/OllieCharles/status/1138028687952089095) > [](https://twitter.com/Res%5FJudicata%5F/status/1137949595273576450) > [](https://twitter.com/DaffaFuture/status/1138085443516297216) > [](https://twitter.com/lauharrier/status/1137897709103341568) > [](https://twitter.com/NotAlexndra/status/1137917587944329218) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5603746/big-little-lies-meryl-streep-scream/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5603746/big-little-lies-meryl-streep-scream/"},"headline":"Everyone Is Screaming for Meryl Streep's Big Little Lies Scream","datePublished":"2019-06-10T14:44:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:59:10.402Z","description":"The Oscar winner made a big debut on the HBO series.","url":"https://time.com/5603746/big-little-lies-meryl-streep-scream/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","meryl streep","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4df933987bf9d86b/69894a98457a5208efd611eb/biglittleliesnicolekidmanmerylstreep.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4df933987bf9d86b/69894a98457a5208efd611eb/biglittleliesnicolekidmanmerylstreep.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BigLittleLiesNicoleKidmanMerylStreep","caption":"Meryl Streep stars in Big Little Lies season 2","creditText":"Jennifer Clasen/HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5603746/big-little-lies-meryl-streep-scream/","name":"Everyone Is Screaming for Meryl Streep's Big Little Lies Scream"}}]}] ```