(CNN) There's a golden rule in Hollywood: Meryl Streep can star in whatever project she wants to star in. So, when writing "Big Little Lies" Season 2, Liane Moriarty, who wrote the novel the series was based on and is a producer on the show, had a trick up her sleeve. She created a new character -- the grieving mother of deceased Perry (played in season 1 by Alexander Skarsgård) -- and named her Mary Louise.

"Mary Louise is my actual legal name," Streep said during a panel discussion at The Wing SoHo on Wednesday.

Streep said she joined the project without reading a script and thought the first season of the show "was the greatest thing on TV." Nicole Kidman, who was also on the panel, first revealed Moriarty's "secret" to landing Streep back in February.

"That was Liane Moriarty. That was her telepathic message to you Meryl, because [the cast] did not know that. We did not know that that was your name," Kidman said. "Liane wrote the novella and said, 'Get me Meryl Streep.'"

Kidman called the new season "jaw-dropping."

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