Producer Lauren Neustadter Is Redefining What a Hello Sunshine Show Can Be

Lauren Neustadter tends to keep pretty busy. But even by her standards, summer 2026 was aggressive. In July alone, the president of film and TV at Reese Witherspoon ’s Hello Sunshine launched Legally Blonde prequel Elle on Prime Video, premiered Lucky on Apple TV and wrapped production on what we now know to be the final season of The Morning Show .

“I feel like Reese and I just ran several marathons at the same time,” says Neustadter. “It’s been a really epic summer, and I feel very grateful for it, but it’s also nice to go back into the office and be back in a normal rhythm. It’s been a minute.” Related Stories TV Anya Taylor-Joy on the Bittersweet 'Lucky' Finale and Why 'Dune 3' Exceeded Expectations Beyond the Book A Con Artist With a Conscience: Apple TV's 'Lucky' Preserves the Novel's Central Identity Crisis

During a recent episode of The Hollywood Reporter podcast, I’m Having an Episode ( Spotify , Amazon Music , Apple ), Neustadter spoke about the summer’s genre pivots for the company, the decision to end The Morning Show , Chihuahua casting and what incoming showrunner Francesca Sloane is bringing to the forthcoming third season of Big Little Lies .

The Morning Show was announced in November 2017 and had been in the works for some time before that. It premiered in 2019 as one of the starriest and most scrutinized shows in history. It’s also rather expensive. All that’s to say… this is a very big plane to land. How did you all approach the decision to end with this coming fifth season?