Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington Set to Star in and Produce Little Fires Everywhere TV Adaptation

Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington will be joining forces to star in and executive produce a limited series based on Celeste Ng’s best-seller Little Fires Everywhere, as reported by THR.

The book, released just last year, follows the controversial adoption of a Chinese-American baby in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine snatched up the book rights as soon as it was published. With ABC Signature Studio behind the effort, a bidding war amongst multiple premium cable and streaming networks has broken out for the rights to air and distribute the TV adaptation. Along with Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, Washington’s Simpson Street will produce the series with Hello Sunshine’s Lauren Neustadter, Simpson Street’s Pilar Savone and Ng. The series will be penned by Life Unexpected creator Liz Tigelaar, who will also serve as show runner and executive producer.

This series is the latest victory for both Washington’s and Witherspoon’s production companies. Washington’s Simpson Street produced the Emmy-nominated Confirmation, along with an ABC comedy pilot Man of the House and the upcoming teen drama Five Points for Facebook Watch. Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine produced last award season darling HBO’s Big Little Lies (returning for a second season) along with a Kristen Wiig comedy series, Are You Sleeping starring Octavia Spencer, and an untitled Witherspoon-Jennifer Aniston morning show drama, all for Apple.

With so many projects going on, both Washington and Witherspoon seem to have found career second winds by producing content they’re passionate about.

Ng, meanwhile, is having a moment of her own—her debut novel Everything I Never Told You is being adapted as well, with LD Entertainment (Jackie, The Zookeeper’s Wife, Anthropoid) turning it into a feature film. Revisit our September 2017 interview with the author here.