Development Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter read an advance copy of the book before it was officially published; Witherspoon chose the book as her September 2017 book club pick, and it quickly became a bestseller. Witherspoon then brought the book to
Kerry Washington, and together the pair approached
Liz Tigelaar to adapt and showrun the novel as a limited series. The project began its development at ABC Signature, the cable/streaming division of ABC Studios where Witherspoon's
Hello Sunshine has a network-only deal and Washington's Simpson Street has an overall deal. On March 12, 2018,
Hulu gave the production an eight episode order. This series order came after a multiple-outlet bidding war involving various networks and streaming services. In April 2019,
Lynn Shelton was chosen to direct the series and serve as an executive producer. Shelton died of a blood disorder shortly after the final episode of the series aired.
Casting Alongside the initial series announcement, it was reported that in addition to executive producing the series Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington had been cast in the series' lead roles. In May 2019,
Joshua Jackson also joined the cast as the husband of Witherspoon's character. In June 2019, Paul Yen,
Huang Lu, and
Geoff Stults had been cast in recurring roles. In July 2019,
Jaime Ray Newman joined the cast in a recurring role. In September 2019,
Obba Babatundé and
Byron Mann were cast in recurring capacities, with
AnnaSophia Robb,
Tiffany Boone,
Alona Tal, Matthew Barnes, Andy Favreau,
Luke Bracey, and
Anika Noni Rose cast in guest roles. In October 2019,
Jesse Williams,
Britt Robertson,
Kristoffer Polaha,
Austin Basis and
Reggie Austin joined the cast of the series, in recurring capacities; however, Polaha and Austin were not credited in the series.
Filming Principal photography took place in
Los Angeles, California and ran from May 31 to October 23, 2019. The exterior of the Warren home is located in
Pasadena, with the exterior of the Richardson home in
Hancock Park.
Music The score was composed by
Mark Isham and
Florence & the Machine keyboardist
Isabella Summers. The series' official soundtrack was released on April 17, 2020 by
Hollywood Records and featured cover songs recorded for the drama and performed by Judith Hill, BELLSAINT, Ruby Amanfu, Lauren Ruth Ward and an original song written by
Ingrid Michaelson. == Release ==