Meryl Streep

In 2018, Streep briefly reprised her role in the musical sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.[200] She also played a supporting part in Rob Marshall's Mary Poppins Returns, a musical sequel to the 1964 film Mary Poppins starring Emily Blunt in the titular role.[201] Streep next featured in her first main role in a television series by starring in the second season of the HBO drama series Big Little Lies in 2019. She took on the part of Mary Louise Wright, the mother-in-law of Nicole Kidman's character.[202] Liane Moriarty, author of the novel of the same name, on which the first season is based, wrote a 200-page novella that served as the basis for the second season. Moriarty decided to name the new character Mary Louise, after Streep's legal name. Streep subsequently agreed to the part without reading a script for the first time in her career.[203] Writing for the BBC, Caryn James labeled her performance "delicious and wily" and found her to be the "embodiment of a passive-aggressive granny".[204] The same year, Streep then starred in the Steven Soderbergh-directed biographical comedy The Laundromat, about the Panama Papers, opposite Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas. It was the first movie distributed by Netflix in which Streep starred.[205] She also played Aunt March in Greta Gerwig's Little Women, co-starring with Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet, and Laura Dern.[206] The film received critical acclaim and grossed over $218 million against its $40 million budge