Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Fan Makes A Hilariously Valid Case For 'Big Little Lies' And 'Mamma Mia!' Being In The Same Cinematic Universe

Fan Makes A Hilariously Valid Case For 'Big Little Lies' And 'Mamma Mia!' Being In The Same Cinematic Universe
HBO; Universal Pictures; @gingerkelli/Twitter
Make us preferred on Google

*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.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Paul Rudd
Valerie Terranova/Getty Images for Cunard

Paul Rudd Was Just Spotted Peering Into The Brooklyn Store That's Feuding With Kelly Clarkson—And The Jokes Are On Point

Celebrities: They're just like us!

They get annoyed when they get bad customer service, like Kelly Clarkson, and they get hella nosey when the drama goes viral on the internet—like, it turns out, Paul Rudd.

Keep ReadingShow less
screenshot of Lisa Kearns' vandalized mayoral campaign sign
Lisa Kearns/Facebook

Canadian Candidate Goes Viral After Turning Defaced Campaign Signs Into Hilarious Viral Video

After pouring time and effort into a project, seeing all your hard work disrespected can draw justified anger. But a Canadian woman running for political office decided to turn the lemons life—or, more specifically, vandals—handed her into pitch perfect lemonade.

Lisa Kearns is a former city councilor who vacated her Ward 2 seat to run for mayor of Burlington, Ontario, Canada—a city of about 187,000 people on the western shore of Lake Ontario. Kearns discovered several of her campaign signs featuring her photo had been vandalized over the Canadian Thanksgiving (observed the second Monday of October) long weekend.

Keep ReadingShow less
Christina Ricci; Donald Trump
Gilbert Flores/Deadline via Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Christina Ricci Just Dropped A Brutal Truth Bomb On A 71-Year-Old MAGA Voter—And Fans Are Applauding

Yellowjackets star Christina Ricci did not mince words after a 71-year-old MAGA voter on Threads vowed to "vote straight Red" in the upcoming midterm elections.

Threads user @janhunterlan, with the midterms just under two weeks away, identified herself as a 71-year-old with an entire family "in California, Texas, Arizona, and Michigan, plus Pensilvania [sic]" that "will be voting straight Red" on November 3.

Keep ReadingShow less
James Talarico; Elon Musk
Sergio Flores/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

James Talarico Just Clapped Back Hard After Elon Musk Said There's 'Something Deeply Wrong' With Him

Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico responded after trillionaire Elon Musk claimed "there's something deeply wrong" with him.

Just days ago, news outlets reported that Musk donated $158 million to a Republican super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, in September. The money he donated swelled the coffers of Texas PAC, a group that is backing Paxton, the Texas attorney general. Musk also made a $10 million donation to Lone Star Liberty PAC, another group that has thrown its support behind Paxton.

Keep ReadingShow less
LaMelo Ball #1 of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates a three-point basket against the Detroit Pistons.
David Berding/Getty Images

NBA Star Sparks Backlash After Saying That Changing His Infant Son's Diapers Is 'Not My Job'

It's 2026, but NBA star LaMelo Ball apparently hasn't gotten the memo that fatherhood has moved beyond the 1950s. The Minnesota Timberwolves point guard is catching heat after declaring that changing his infant son's diapers is "not my job."

The 25-year-old made the eyebrow-raising admission during an Inside the NBA interview with Ernie Johnson Jr. ahead of his October 21 debut with Minnesota.

Keep ReadingShow less