‘Secrets and Lies’: ‘Be suspicious of everyone’ and 9 more Season 2 teases

“Secrets and Lies” returned to ABC after an extended hiatus Sunday (Sept. 25) with a new mystery in the form of Kate Warner’s (Jordana Brewster) murder. Det. Andrea Cornell’s (Juliette Lewis) prime suspect is Kate’s husband Eric (Michael Ealy), but Eric is surrounded by a family full of other possible suspects.

We sat down with creator Barbie Kligman to talk about Season 2, which she agrees is “a little glossier” than Season 1. Here are 10 things to know about Cornell’s latest case.

It’s less moody

Season 2 swaps the suburban cul-de-sac for the high-powered world of finance, which tonally makes the show quite a bit different.

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“it’s a little less moody. We weren’t working in nature, the way we did last season with the woods, so we didn’t do as much rain, we didn’t use the weather elements as much,” says Kligman. “It’s a little glossier, but it’s still not hyper-glossy. It’s just, ‘OK, we’re taking you into a different world this season.’ It’s visually different, it’s dramatically different. Season 1 was about Ben Crawford, ordinary guy, painter. Season 2 is about Eric Warner, a different kind of ordinary guy — educated, wealthy, but still a person. Someone hopefully we can relate to.”

But there are still plenty of secrets & lies

“Every season there is a murder and the secrets and lies that rise to the surface through the investigation of that murder,” says Kligman. “Whether it’s on the part of the detective or the accused, things come out. That’s what the show will always be.”

Kate’s murder was the No. 1 choice for Season 2

“When we started, I got in the room with a few writers and we basically were playing with three ideas, but this was always my favorite of the three, so I was very pleased that [the studio and the network] were on board with this as well,” says Kligman.

Is everybody a suspect?

“Here’s the honest truth — viewers should be suspicious of everyone. That’s what I love about this. Obviously, unless several people got together and killed someone, which is not the story, everyone’s a potential suspect and every one of these people is guilty of something. That’s part of the fun of it. There is no one who is not hiding something and that includes the victim.”

The victim’s secrets are a new facet

“What was exciting for us this season as opposed to last season, last season … the sympathy quotient is right there. There’s a dead child and I want to know who did it,” Kligman explains. “This season is more challenging because you want to make sure people sympathize with the victim — also, you have to make sure that Eric and Kate’s relationship was something that people admired or aspired to in their own lives so that not only did they sympathize with Kate, but as they’re on the journey as to whether or not he did it, they would also be appropriately sympathetic with Eric.

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“On the flip side, when a homicide detective is faced with a murder, most of the time they stand over the victim and say, ‘What did you do to get here?’ Not to say it’s the victim’s fault, but ‘Who did you know? Who did you piss off? Who did you meet?’ When you’re not dealing with a five-year-old child, you can ask those questions. You can delve into the victim’s actions and secrets and lies as well, which we couldn’t do in Season 1.”

Eric and Amanda’s mother is coming

The Season 2 premiere episode made it sound as though Eric and Amanda’s (Mekia Cox) mother is deceased, before later revealing that she is not. While Kligman won’t reveal exactly what she’s up to, the creator does say that mommy dearest is coming into the picture.

“I can’t tell you [where she is], but I can tell you in episode 3, it is revealed where she is. We do meet her in the latter portion of the season.”

Eric is not above suspicion

Kligman says viewers are “absolutely not” supposed to assume that since Eric is the protagonist that he’s innocent — just look at the cliffhanger regarding Steven Porter.

“[Steven Porter] went to high school with Eric and that Eric went to juvenile for … he went away and he is theoretically responsible for the death of Steven Porter. In episode 2, you will find out more of the details of what happened,” says Kligman. “None of the characters are perfect and none should be. We’re trying to build a rich history for Eric so that you are constantly wondering, and it’s just moments, it’s moments where he will respond to Det. Cornell in a particular way and you go, ‘Wait a minute.'”

The point of view is going to change

“Season 1 was exclusively from Ben’s (Ryan Phillippe) point of view for eight episodes. Season 2 is exclusively from Eric Warner’s point of view for three and in episode 4, we branch out and we start to see Cornell’s point of view as well and it allows us to follow the different clues and different suspects along with Eric’s journey and that mixes it up quite a bit.”

Cornell’s personal life will come into play

“We start to drop some clues in [episodes] 4 and 5, then 6 and 7 have a lot to do with answering the question of why Det. Cornell works solo and also what’s happening with her family — with her ex-husband, with her daughter, who was in jail last season,” says Kligman. “There also is another cop we see regularly — I don’t want to say he’s her partner, because he’s not, but they do things together. That’s Ralston, played by Brendan Hines, and her boss is Major Bryant, that’s David James Elliott.”

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“So what’s interesting about it is because this is a wealthy family we’re focused on, with their tentacles that reach to the mayor and much more power and much more savvy than the Crawford family did, we get to see for Det. Cornell the pressure coming down on her to solve this from within her environment.”

‘Cornell Confidential’ is back

“Last season we also did a multi-platform thing so between each episode there was an interstitial webisode called ‘Cornell Confidential’ and we are doing it again this season. You don’t have to watch them to know what’s going on, but it’s a fun bonus for those who want to. Juliette’s in most of them, Kenny Johnson’s in one of them, later in the season we introduce a vice detective for a few episodes, played by Dawn Olivieri, and she’s in a couple of the webisodes. It’s fun.”

“Secrets and Lies” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

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