More than a year after Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington shared that their production companies would team up on a TV series, the treatment that brought Sharp Objects and Big Little Lies to the small screen is finally coming for Celeste Ng‘s blockbuster novel Little Fires Everywhere. And across social media, Witherspoon and Washington have shared tiny hints about the forthcoming series, including a few peeks behind the scenes as the show takes shape. From what we can see so far, it’s going to be the next major installment in appointment TV.
The cast is only one table read into production so far, so there’s still a while to wait for its premiere. To tide you over until then, here’s everything we know so far about the sure-to-be blockbuster series.
The cast is stacked.
Witherspoon and Washington will headline the series as rival matriarchs of the Richardson and Warren families. Joshua Jackson will play alongside Witherspoon as her character’s husband. They’re not the only names to get excited about: Up-and-comers from hits like The Good Doctor and La La Land, including Rosemarie DeWitt, Jade Pettyjohn, Jordan Elsass, Gavin Lewis, and Lexi Underwood, will appear in the series.
It’s based on Celeste Ng’s bestselling novel. Little Fires Everywhere topped the bestseller list in 2017 shortly following its debut. It’s the kind of women-centric, multigenerational drama that begged for a TV adaptation. The novel follows two opposing families in Shaker Heights, Ohio: the Richardsons, an affluent family with four children, and the Warrens, a mother-daughter duo who struggle to get by. A unexpected friendship between the families’ children draws them together, but a custody battle for a Chinese-American baby threatens to tear them—and the entire town—apart.
The show won’t copy the book line for line, but Ng gave the adaptation her stamp of approval after a visit to the writers’ room last fall. “True to the characters and themes and plot, but with lots of new layers and some tweaks and twists,” she tweeted.
Production is officially underway—and Washington and Witherspoon play a huge role behind-the-scenes, too. Last week, Washington shared a peek at the cast’s first table read. “The Warrens and the Richardsons have reported for duty!” she wrote. “#LittleFiresEverywhere production is underway!:”
The cast isn’t the only aspect of the show powered by women: Washington and Witherspoon are also named as executive producers on the series.
The show will air on Hulu. Washington and Witherspoon secured the rights to Little Fires Everywhere back in 2018. It was shopped around to several streaming networks before finding a home at Hulu.
It’s slated for one season. The show will air eight episodes on Hulu, so, technically, it’s a miniseries. Big Little Lies started out that way too…and then we got a second season. So the story could go on.
A release date hasn’t been announced. The series is estimated to premiere in 2020, but an official schedule hasn’t been released yet. We’ll update this post with the official premiere date when it’s available.
Halie LeSavage is a contributing writer at Glamour. Follow her @halielesavage.
