If you thought the college friend group at the center of Hulu's romantic drama series Tell Me Lies was messy enough in season 1, season 2 introduced a new level of intrigue: a secret affair between Bree (Catherine Missal) and married professor Oliver, played by new cast addition Tom Ellis. In addition to sparking a lot of discourse among the Tell Me Lies fandom with his performance, Ellis is also an alum of a cult-favorite series and has a personal connection to the Tell Me Lies team. Read on to learn more about Tom Ellis, including whether the actor would return for Tell Me Lies season 3.
Tom Ellis is best known for his starring role in 'Lucifer.'
Tom Ellis, 45, is a Welsh actor who grew up in Sheffield, England and went on to earn a degree from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He got his start in U.K.-based series including EastEnders, Miranda, Merlin, and The Fades, before crossing over to the States with the role of Robin Hood in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
Ellis is best known for starring as Lucifer Morningstar in the hit series Lucifer, based on the character from The Sandman comic series. (Yes, the same character Gwendoline Christie plays in the Netflix adaptation.) Lucifer ran from 2015 to 2021 and found a passionate fanbase during its run; fans loved the fantasy show so much that when its original network Fox canceled it after three seasons, Netflix revived it for three more.
Tell Me Lies marks Ellis's first major live-action TV role since Lucifer wrapped up, but he has also voice-acted in animated shows including Fox's The Great North and Netflix's Exploding Kittens.
Tom Ellis is married to 'Tell Me Lies' creator Meaghan Oppenheimer, and they have a daughter.
Tell Me Lies season 2 was a family effort for Ellis, as he's happily married to the show's creator and executive producer Meaghan Oppenheimer, 38. The couple were wed in June 2019 after four years of dating. According to E! News, Ellis was previously married once before and he has three daughters from previous relationships.
Per Ellis's Instagram, the actor appears to be a total wife guy, sharing plenty of tributes to Oppenheimer, including a congratulatory note when Tell Me Lies began production. The pair have both also documented their journey as new parents, after welcoming their first child together via surrogate, a baby girl, on November 8, 2023.
In an interview with TheWrap, Ellis gushed about his experiences working with his wife. He said, "It feels very seamless. We’re able to really quite easily separate church and state, and we have a very healthy respect for each other’s creativity and creative process, and I think she’s a phenomenal writer."
Tom Ellis says his 'Tell Me Lies' character Oliver is "despicable" and "quietly sociopathic."
Spoilers for the Tell Me Lies season 2 finale ahead. Now that season 2 has wrapped up and Oliver's secret has been revealed—that he and his wife Marianne (Gabriella Pession) were in an open marriage, and he'd been lying to Bree the whole time—Ellis has made it clear that he agrees with fans that the professor is a horrible person. Speaking to PEOPLE, the actor called the character "despicable" and posited that the married man may be even more toxic than Jackson White's character Stephen.
"It's strange for me, because I'm used to playing characters that I like in some way, shape or form, or [I can] find something to like about them. And for Oliver, I found it really difficult to find redeeming features, because I don't really think he has any," he told the outlet. "And that's the cold, hard truth of this particular story. I look at this character, and he's a guy who has a huge responsibility towards young people [as a professor], and he abuses that responsibility. And that is something very difficult for me to get on board with."
He continued, "And there are many, many instances of these kind of relationships happening. And I think it's important—when we're talking about the toxic nature of sexual relationships and love—and the lies that we're prepared to tell ourselves when those things are on the line—that's what the show is about."
Will Tom Ellis's character Oliver return for 'Tell Me Lies' season 3?
In the aftermath of season 2, fans are curious whether Oliver would still return in a possible third season, even though he and Bree have ended their relationship. It doesn't seem likely, though.
In an interview with Variety, Oppenheimer suggested that Ellis's time on the series has ended. "I think Tom was just wanting to do one season," she told the outlet. "I think that we wrapped up his storyline in a way that really worked for me. I don’t know where else we would go after that with him. I think we could bring Marianne back, maybe. There’s a lot more story to tell with her. But I think we kind of learned that Oliver is so broken and hollow by the end of this season that I’m ready for Bree to be done with him."
Meanwhile, in his interview with PEOPLE, Ellis also said goodbye to his character, hinting that he's glad to leave the difficult role behind.
"I think, thankfully, I've left Oliver behind now," he said. "But no... I felt really dark at the end of it. I felt dark because I'd been part of telling that story. And yeah, I did need to kind of just remind myself of who I am and all those things."
