*Minor spoilers for Big Little Lies ahead.
The return of Big Little Lies brought with it the star power of Meryl Streep.
Her character, Mary Louise, made an immediate impression on the other characters, as well as the audience.
However, Streep's character in the HBO show makes for an interesting thought.
Mary Louise is the mother of Alexander Skarsgård's Perry in Big Little Lies. Alexander Skarsgård's real life father is Stellan Skarsgård.
And Stellan Skarsgård starred in Mamma Mia! with Meryl Streep, which had a plot revolving around who Meryl's baby daddy is.
So, does this mean we've really solved the central dilemma of Mamma Mia!?
In Mamma Mia!, Meryl Streep plays Donna, the owner of a hotel on a Greek island whose daughter, Sophie, is about to get married. Sophie wants to be given away by her father, but doesn't know who he is.
Sophie finds her mother's diary and narrows down her father to one of three men, Sam, played by Pierce Brosnan, Harry, played by Colin Firth, and Bill, played by the aforementioned Stellan Skarsgård.
At the end of the film, it is never revealed which man is Sophie's dad, but this theory posits the answer.
Meanwhile, in HBO's Big Little Lies, we follow the lives of several women as their abusive lives bring them to the point of murder. Alexander Skarsgård's Perry's mother is portrayed in the show by Meryl Streep in the second season.
Seeing as Meryl Streep plays the mother of the younger Skarsgård in Big Little Lies, and Meryl had a former relationship with the older Skarsgård that possibly results in a pregnancy in Mamma Mia!, can we really draw the conclusion that the two stories are in the same universe?
This is the internet.
We can do what we want.
There are obvious holes in this theory.
To start, Mary Louise and Donna have completely different personalities. Now, Streep has the range to play both so incredibly well, and it's entirely possible she's changed in the intervening years.
Let's also add in the fact that as far as we're aware, Sophie is the only child of Donna in Mamma Mia!.
But it's so easy to make the connection.
Other people came to the exact same conclusion.
Big Little Lies' season 2 recently returned to HBO with the astonishing Meryl Streep in tow. It stars Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, and Shailene Woodley.
