With the second season of Apple TV and Hello Sunshine’s The Last Thing He Told Me drama series drawing to a close today, it only made sense that Deadline got to chat via phone with Lauren Neustadter, President of Film & TV at Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine, about more upcoming shows — book adaptations and not — as well as films in the works, from production on The Nightingale set in Budapest earlier this week.

The Tristar feature adaptation of Kristin Hannah’s best-selling novel is another project that took time to pull together with a deal first put in place for a theatrical release Christmas 2020 that fell apart due to COVID and then the dual labor strikes in Hollywood in 2023. Hannah’s World War II novel became a Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection in March of 2023, and Deadline broke the news of the reignited project moving forward, still with both Elle and Dakota Fanning attached as they had been since 2019, but with a few new names in the mix behind the movie.

The Last Thing He Told Me was served a Season 2 renewal by Apple TV nearly a year after the show’s first season premiered, in conjunction with author Laura Dave’s commitment to pen a sequel novel revisiting the world she wrote of on and off for ten years — The First Time I Saw Him, which was Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club’s first sequel selection for January 2026.

“It was a privilege to encourage Laura to go back into the world of Hannah and Bailey and Owen. I think the fans really wanted it,” Neustadter told Deadline on the first day of April. “It was a really unique process the whole team at Hello Sunshine found to be really gratifying. Laura was writing her novel as we were writing the show. Of course, we had the tremendous advantage of having Josh Singer, who happens to be her husband, but also an Oscar winning screenwriter, breaking the season and writing it.”

With the way Season 2’s finale ended, there may even be momentum for a third season, and Neustadter is on board, along with stars Jennifer Garner and Judy Greer, who both expressed interest in what could come next for their characters — who are now very at odds. Whether Dave would fit another book into that puzzle is not yet clear.

“[Josh] and [Laura] were very in sync about everything that was going on and the big moves with Hannah, with Owen, with Bailey, as the [second] season unfolded and as the novel unfolded, but they were really very complimentary pieces of material,” Neustadter added. “We were always checking in with Laura. She was giving us glimpses of things as we went along, and we always understood what her hopes and goals and vision and intention were. But she also really trusted Josh and our writers to take the story and run with it and make it really rich and cinematic. We really put our foot on the gas in season two. There’s so many plot twists and turns, you’re just breathless, and you watch in a way that is really thrilling for an audience.”

The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2 is by far not the first and, recently, not the only show to come with a companion sequel novel, though the trend, as it applies to Hello Sunshine projects, is interesting to trace, from Season 3 of Big Little Lies accompanying Lianne Moriarty’s long-awaited sequel book, Big Little Truths, and Marissa Stapley’s Lucky, which is getting a small-screen adaptation on Apple TV come July, recently receiving sequel news with Stapley’s Not So Lucky in the works.

In the below interview, Neustadter teases upcoming shows like Elle, out July 1 on Prime Video, and Lucky coming to Apple TV July 10 from Reese Witherspoon’s production company. She also gives status updates on films in development based on Reese’s Book Club picks like Curtis Sittenfield’s Romantic Comedy, Cesca Major’s Maybe Next Time and Claire Leslie Hall’s Broken Country as well as the Jennifer Garner Mrs. Claus film at Netflix.

DEADLINE: Elle, your Legally Blonde prequel series with Prime Video already has a season two renewal.

LAUREN NEUSTADTER: Season two’s in production. We’re shooting. Cameras are rolling right now in Vancouver.

DEADLINE: How did it feel to get that early renewal after making season one, which hasn’t even been seen yet?

NEUSTADTER: We were really proud, and we were really grateful. Amazon has been so supportive. Reese really was the one that had the idea to go back to the 90s and meet up with Elle when she was in high school. I think she was observing the messaging that was coming at this young generation of women right now and seeing what was happening on social media, and feeling like young women need more great role models. This is a moment to bring Elle back for them. This started with Reese saying, I think the world needs Elle Woods, and we should see her in high school.

We found our creator, Laura Kittrell, and then she has a co-showrunner Caroline Dries, who has been her partner ever since post-Upfronts.

We had developed something with Laura in the first year of Hello Sunshine in 2017 — a script that was relatively autobiographical — that unfortunately didn’t get made. But we loved her voice, and we loved who she was as a person. We had been really trying to find that next thing. When we had this idea, we went to Laura, And we got in there together and started brainstorming, and she came up with the idea for this show. She wrote the pilot really remarkably fast, and Amazon flipped for it, and they decided that they were ready to go and make the show. We were off to the races. Caroline came in to co-showrun.

RELATED: Everything We Know About Prime Video’s ‘Legally Blonde’ Prequel Series ‘Elle’

We had a great first season. We were very gratified to know that Amazon was as enamored of it as we were. The first season of the show is [Elle’s] first semester of junior year, so the second season is the second semester of junior year. There was a weather factor, we were eager to get the weather piece right, so Amazon was excited to keep going. And everybody really just wrote unbelievably well and unbelievably fast, and here we are making season two.

There’s a beautiful mother-daughter story for all of the women that are closer to my age who bought tickets, and saw Legally Blonde almost 25 years ago, we’re coming up on the 25th anniversary. They now have daughters, and I have a daughter, and I will be so excited to watch the show with my daughter, and also with my son. It’s a multi-generational event. It’s so real and authentic and funny and meaningful. My greatest hope and dream and wish is that parents will watch it with their kids. I think the world needs Elle Woods.

DEADLINE: And junior year is a stressful time! Will be exciting to see how that shines through. You have Lucky coming out in July, and I saw that Marissa Stapley is writing a sequel to her book. I’m wondering if you factored into that, like with The Last Thing He Told Me, or if that’s a completely separate thing?

NEUSTADTER: I mean, we’re all fans of books and film and television shows at Hello Sunshine, so when we fall in love with these characters, of course, we are always going to go back to the author and saying, “Is there more story here?”

I read the book in one sitting. I absolutely loved it. I was actually with Laura Dave as I was reading the book. I had a long plane ride, and I was sitting next to Laura Dave, and she was watching me read Lucky, and she’s really good friends with Jonathan Tropper, who wound up creating the show. I recommended the book to her, just as a pleasure read. And she read it. She knew that I was sending it to Jonathan Tropper, and she actually said to Jonathan Tropper how much she loved it. So it’s all very interconnected.

It was such a pleasure to get to work with Jonathan Tropper and also with Cassie Pappas, who came in to co-showrun with him, and working with Marissa Stapley, who is the author, was also really a joy, because there was a different kind of trust fall there. With Laura Dave and season two [of The Last Thing He Told Me], there was a total trust fall in terms of, you guys go off and write the show at the same time as I’m going to write the novel. Marissa was unbelievably supportive of us taking the heart and soul of the character [Lucky] and putting her into an unapologetically propulsive, thrilling environment. It’s the most masculine energy of anything that Hello Sunshine, has ever done. It’s a very full throttle show, as you could see from the teaser, and there’s a wonderful trailer that will follow.

RELATED: Apple Shows Off 2026 Film & TV Slate At Flashy, Tightly Curated Los Angeles Press Day

Marissa gave us permission to take this character and really push her to her limit. I admire so many things about Jonathan Tropper’s writing, but his action is so magnificent. You’ve got this incredibly strong female character, where all of the odds are against her, and she’s got to go. The stakes are unbelievably high. She’s in danger everywhere she turns in ways that she and we, the audience, would never expect, and we get to really see what she’s made of.

As Marissa was reading the scripts and seeing the show come to life — it was even before we shot the show — she called me and she said, “How would you feel if I started thinking about a second book?” And I said “We would be so excited.” [Lucky the TV show] always conceived as a limited series, so that is absolutely the way that it was made. But when an author says, “I feel inspired to keep going,” there’s truly no greater compliment and nothing more exciting for us, because we love these characters and we just want to spend more time with them.

 DEADLINE: I have to ask about The Morning Show Season 5, you’ve assembled quite a cast like you do every season, but where are you in that process?

NEUSTADTER: Every single season, I’m blown away by the amazing new cast members: Jeff Daniels, Renee Rapp, Jessie Williams, Sean Hayes. It’s this unbelievable problem that we have. You think, “How could possibly get better?” And then all of these unbelievable actors join.

Reese and Jen have really fantastic scenes together this season, and Charlotte Stoudt and I’m always very impressed by how thoughtful Charlotte Stoudt and our writers are and just how smart this show is.]

RELATED: Sean Hayes Joins ‘The Morning Show’ For Season 5

We’re shooting right now. We’re actually having a table read in about an hour and a half. Those are always some of my most favorite moments when you get to hop on a Soom and see all of these incredible actors reading the scripts and bringing them to life in that first moment when you hear the words out loud.

DEADLINE: I’m assuming there’ll be a time jump. Are there any events or historical happenings you’re excited for season five to tackle?

NEUSTADTER: I don’t think I’m allowed to spoil anything. I think that one of the things that the show does in a really exceptional way is it taps into the world that we are living in, and the moments that feel like they’re really delicate and important and real. This season is absolutely no exception. I think everything is being approached really thoughtfully.

DEADLINE: I have to ask too about Big Little Lies season three. There’s another book coming out for that. Can you say how that is going?

NEUSTADTER: We are excited. We absolutely love Lianne’s latest book. She did an incredible job. I think fans are going to devour that book when it publishes later this year, and we’re working away. It’s an exciting time.

RELATED: ‘Big Little Lies’ Author Teases Sequel Book, ‘Big Little Truths,’ And Season 3 Plot: “A Time Jump Always Made Sense To Me”

DEADLINE: Okay so we’ve talked TV. I did have a couple film questions, too. Is the Mrs. Claus movie with Jennifer Garner still happening?

NEUSTADTER: It’s still in the works. I was talking with her about it today. That is definitely something that we are actively working on with wonderful folks at Netflix and hoping that we get to go to the North Pole with Jennifer Garner soon. We are working on that with Jen and her wonderful team and hoping that that one comes together very quickly.

DEADLINE: Is there any development with the Romantic Comedy movie based on Curtis Sittenfeld’s book with Jordan Weiss writing?

NEUSTADTER: And Dan Brier. There’s nothing official yet. It’s coming together.

DEADLINE: I wanted to check on Broken Country too. I know that book is very popular, and there’s a movie deal in place with Sony 3000 Pictures.

NEUSTADTER: There is a movie deal in place. We are working on that as well. There’s nothing really to say about it yet.

It is coming together. It’s such a special book, and I’m very excited to turn into a into a movie. I think it has the potential to be a book so much like Where The Crawdads Sing, where you get so swept up in the beautiful world, and the really compelling characters. And Beth, who’s the woman at the center of that story is such a powerful and impressive female protagonist. And there’s a mystery, there’s a love story, there’s all of the perfect ingredients. We are working on that with Elizabeth Gabler and her team at 3000 pictures.

DEADLINE: How about Maybe Next Time? I met Cesca [Major, the author of the book] at the very first Shine Away. How is that one going?

NEUSTADTER: This is me being your book club friend. Romantic Comedy is a delicious delight, Maybe Next Time is very beautiful and emotional, but it will make you cry. It’s epic romance, and so that is with our friends at Apple. We’re working on turning that one into a movie for you to watch.

DEADLINE: Oh and now last question, I have to bring it back to The Nightingale! What can you say about that film, both Fanning sisters starring…?

NEUSTADTER: We love this book, and we feel so privileged to be a part of a team that is turning it into a magnificent movie. And every single day, the scenes are taking my breath away. It’s such a gorgeous book, and it’s such an important story to bring to life on screen. [We’re] really grateful to Kristen Hanna for writing this amazing book, and to Tristar for for being so committed to making the film.”

RELATED: Everything We Know About ‘The Nightingale’ Movie So Far: Release Date, Stars & More