The limited series Little Fires Everywhere, based on Celeste Ng’s best-selling novel, doesn’t premiere until 2020 but fans are already so excited for the TV adaptation. Jade Pettyjohn, 18, will star as Lexie Richardson, the daughter of Reese Witherspoon’s character, Elena Richardson. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Jade at Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood event on Aug. 6 about the highly-anticipated miniseries and working with the Oscar winner. “She’s amazing and the relationship we have is a very — as far as characters go — tight relationship,” Jade told HollywoodLife. “We’re very close. So it was really fun to explore that with her because we’re definitely reflections of each other at different ages. That was really fun. It’s been amazing to work with her so far in that capacity.”
The show follows the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and a mysterious mother and daughter who upend their lives. Jade added that the show “definitely holds true to those very core beliefs of the book, but it is a TV series, and we have more time to explore. So we are exploring more options, and we get to dive in a little deeper to these characters that Celeste Ng wrote so beautifully.” Little Fires Everywhere will consist of 8 episodes.
She also teased: “Fans can expect a lot of tension and a lot of very important topics coming into play. There’s a lot of drama, a lot of mystery. And I think that there’s a lot of people who are being represented in this, and I think that, whoever you are, you’ll definitely identify with someone on the show. And I think that people will be excited about that.”
In addition to Reese, Jade gets to work with Scandal star Kerry Washington, 42, who plays Mia Warren. Reese and Kerry, who serve as executive producers on the series, are both inspirations to Jade. “I’ve learned so much from them [Reese and Kerry],” Jade continued. “They are incredible women and incredible artists. I think one thing I learned from both of them is that being a leader means being kind to others and that there’s a lot of strength in supporting other artists in any way you can, and I think they just reiterated that for me. And they’re at the top. They’re amazing producers and amazing actresses, and they’re doing both, and they’re only raising other people up at the same time. They create this atmosphere on set that’s so easy to live and exist in.”