Lauren Neustadter and Reese Witherspoon are having a big summer with back-to-back high-profile releases. In July, the Legally Blonde prequel series “Elle” will premiere on Amazon Prime Video, and the action miniseries “Lucky” starring Anya Taylor-Joy will premiere on Apple TV.
Both shows, which will premiere just two weeks apart, are produced by Witherspoon’s media company, Hello Sunshine, and will celebrate their 10th anniversary this fall. The makers of Daisy Jones and the Crawdads are next planning to release Season 3 of HBO’s Big Little Lies, Sony Pictures’ Nightingale starring Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning, and a second season of Elle (which has already finished filming) in 2027.
It’s a jam-packed culmination of nearly a decade of work by Witherspoon and the Hello Sunshine team, led by President Neustadter, head of television and film.
Lauren Neustadter and Reese Witherspoon attend the New York premiere of Prime Video’s ‘Elle’ on June 23, 2026 in New York, New York.
Christina Bunfrey/Variety
“Part of the mission, initially, was to create opportunities for women to shine, to create opportunities for women to shine in front of and behind the camera as members of a team,” Neustadter told Variety. “That’s all equally important to us, and when we talked about, ‘What do we want to do with this company?’ That was really a core part of Hello Sunshine’s mission, whether it was the script or the book, whether it was as a director or as head of production.”
From “The Morning Show” to “Little Fires Everywhere,” Neustadter and Witherspoon say they focused on finding “just the right people to bring these projects to life,” including Laura Kittrell and Caroline Dries from “Lucky” and “Elle” showrunner Jonathan Tropper.
Neustadter said this partner-focused strategy not only led to the success of “Hello Sunshine,” but also prepared the team for even bigger projects in the future, including the revival of “Big Little Lies,” which premiered in 2017.
Anya Taylor-Joe and Lauren Neustadter
Michael Buckner/Variety
“The reality is, when the first season of Big Little Lies was made, Hello Sunshine didn’t exist. It was Reese and Bruna[Papandrea]and Pacific Standard and David E. Kelley. They did the greatest job ever,” Neustadter says. “And we were honored to be invited back for a second season and even a third season. We have the most inspirational and inspirational team and I think there are a lot of things that are extra special about that show. And one of them is that it’s a true team effort.”
Big Little Lies Season 3 is based on author Leanne Moriarity’s upcoming sequel book, Big Little Truths, and stars Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern.
“HBO has been the most amazing partner, along with this amazing production team, and I think we all care so much about each of these amazing characters,” says Neustadter. “So it’s a huge honor just to be a part of the conversation and think about what the next chapter will be for these extraordinary women of Monterey. But this is really, really a team effort, and we know Season 3 is going to be great.”
Read more of Variety’s in-depth interview with Neustadter below.
Hello Sunshine has extensive experience with book-to-film adaptations. How are you approaching the development process for Big Little Lies Season 3, given that Big Little Lies Season 2 continued beyond the original, but Season 3 will be based on the upcoming sequel, Big Little Truth?
One of the things we try to do with every project is to make sure everyone involved loves it as much as we love it. “Big Little Lies” is a great example of this. Because I think everyone cares about these characters very deeply. So we’re 100% immersed in the book and have thoughtful conversations about the film adaptation and the characters. We also have the benefit of having the actresses who have known, loved, and lived these characters join us in the conversation about how they are taken from book to screen. This is always a great privilege. I think that’s what makes the material so rich. So I’m really excited about everything that’s happening right now and all the conversations that are happening.
What will next year hold for Hello Sunshine? What do you plan to produce next?
We’re excited about Big Little Lies. I hope that the production of Season 3 of “Elle” will progress and that Season 2 of “Elle” will be aired. Season 5 of “The Morning Show” is coming. The Nightingale is set to be released, but there are several other films in the works that will hopefully be made in 2027. So it must be busy.
“Lucky” is a different project from Hello Sunshine and is an action-oriented show. Did it require something that previous shows and movies didn’t have?
The scenery in each of these episodes makes you feel like you’re with her on the run. You see her as a chameleon, which I think is very fascinating and interesting and actually quite unique in a limited series like this. We really fell in love with this book and this character and her complex relationship with her father.
We always love to stretch. We always love going into areas we haven’t been before and exploring and being curious and bringing these characters to life, but also teaming up with people who have very special superpowers. So Jonathan Tropper was that person. He’s someone we really respect, both as a screenwriter and as a writer. He’s able to do this full-throttle action in a way that’s frankly new to us. So we knew we needed to have experts in the field come in and build these awful sequences and really think about what this would look like. This book hasn’t been published yet, so it was very important to us, to Hello Sunshine, and to the (future) readers of this book, that it was the right thing to do. We needed to protect the heart and soul and vulnerability of this character, and we needed a series creator who could do both.
Finally, even when we’re sitting in the mix and you’re adjusting the sound, I’m like, how about Lucky’s breathing? And how are we emotionally with her? Jonathan said, “Can we make the gunshot a little louder? I really want to feel this explosion.” And it was really great. If you think about Daisy Jones and the Six, it was the same musically.
What did you think about the reaction to “Elle” from existing “Legally Blonde” fans?
It’s everything I wanted. I feel like women are coming up to me and thanking me for putting on a fun show. And what really hit home for Reese was that, especially for women in the younger generation, the messages they receive on social media aren’t necessarily that they’re wonderful and perfect just the way they are and that they can do anything they dream of. Without being disrespectful, I think Elle really reminds us that we are enough and that it’s okay to be different. And I think Elle herself embodies that. And I think[her mother]Eva[played by June Diane Raphael]really embodies that.
It’s one of my favorite things to do, and it was so gratifying and wonderful to see the reaction to Eva’s character. This character was very intentionally designed to be a little love letter to those of us who saw the movie in theaters when it came out and are now at a different stage in our lives. And I think Eva, for us, is a woman who is grappling with different issues and questioning her identity as she reaches her 40s and moves to a different place.
One of the things we always try to do is connect with women and reflect their lived experiences. And hopefully, Elle will do that in a fun way. In a sense, I think it’s a program that even women can enjoy with peace of mind. We just wanted to give our audience and fans of Legally Blonde something delicious and something we could connect with. And I hope we did that. My high school buddy, who now lives in North Carolina, texted me and said, “My daughter is obsessed with this show, we both enjoy it, and we watch every episode together every night.”
“Elle” has already finished production on Season 2. How did you make the choice to jump into Season 2 before Season 1 even aired, knowing that audience feedback wouldn’t be available?
We finished Season 2 before doing press and premiering for Season 1. And to be honest, a lot of it had to do with the weather. Because one of the things that was difficult was that in season one there was a lot of sunlight, and we had to adjust for that with visual effects. And we were really trying to feel Seattle. And we knew that if we waited the normal amount of time, we would get the start of summer, and then it would be great. There will never be dark skies. It never rains. Cannot retrieve element. So this is a testament to Amazon’s belief and passion for the show, and I think they were very excited to see the cut.
And we thought, let’s go, let’s keep this momentum going. I wanted to do each season of “Elle” as a semester, so I’d start with the first semester of my junior year and move right into my second semester. In terms of story and momentum, it made a lot of sense to continue. I think this show really benefited from not having a lot of downtime. Emotionally, I think heading into season two, everyone was very empathetic to the situation their characters were in at the end of season one.
How do you balance your workload with so many ongoing and new projects? How involved is Reese on a day-to-day basis when he’s starring in some of these productions and not in others?
We love being busy. That’s something we have in common, and we also have the most amazing team. There are many things I admire about Reese, but one of the things I admire most is that she is very intentional about hiring great people to do her job and letting them do their jobs. So she’s a great partner. She’s definitely involved in everything. She has read all the books. She reads all the scripts. She sees every cut. She is telling us what she thinks.
At the same time, if we’re moving at a fast clip, I want her to touch base and let you know this is happening and I say I feel great about it, and she says, “I feel great about it too,” and we go. Especially in times like these, she’s starring on “The Morning Show,” we’re starting two shows, and we’ve got a new book option that we’re really excited about. We’re trying to juggle all of this elegantly. And I think trust is a very important part of that. I would say just as important is having an incredible team. Some people started out as assistants and are now in charge of the sets. They helped us make it all happen, and I get so excited just thinking about everything we’ve accomplished in the last 10 years or so.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
