
Hulu’s new miniseries “Little Fires Everywhere” has been lighting up the screen with its twisty storylines, nuanced and intriguing characters and topical subtext. The eight-part series, which is based on Celeste Ng’s 2017 novel of the same name, features an ensemble cast that’s a mix of A-listers (Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington) and up-and-coming young stars. Find out who plays who below.
-
Reese Witherspoon (Elena Richardson)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu Elena Richardson is a perky, seemingly put-together mother of four teenage children — Izzy, Lexie, Moody and Trip — wife to her husband Bill and a hard-working journalist, whose assets include a small rental property. When Mia and Pearl, her new tenants, arrive in town and Elena’s children slowly but noticeably begin pulling away from her, she’s forced to re-evaluate the terms and conditions of motherhood, and whether there really are any. Witherspoon also serves as executive producer on the series.
-
Kerry Washington (Mia Warren)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu Difficult to read and thoroughly leery, Mia, a protective single mother to her daughter Pearl and a struggling artist, puts heavy focus on her art as a way to cloud her tormenting past, forcing her and her daughter to move from location to location. When the two settle in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Mia nabs jobs at a local Chinese restaurant, Lucky Place, and as a home assistant to the Richardson family. As she becomes entangled in her new environment’s many scandals and begins to make enemies, questions around her identity and past emerge, complicating her relationship with Pearl. Like Witherspoon, Washington is also an executive producer on the show.
-
Lexi Underwood (Pearl Warren)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu Exhausted by her mother’s constant switcheroo of residence in favor of her art, and vying for connection with peers, Pearl, a high school junior, starts finding solace in the Richardsons’ household, especially as her mother continues to keep her in the dark about her past. She quickly finds herself in a rather uncomfortable triangle, being thoroughly attended to by Moody Richardson, but showing increased affection for his brother Trip.
-
Joshua Jackson (Bill Richardson)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu Having moved to Elena’s hometown of Shaker Heights after college, Bill is a devoted husband and father to his four children, who, contrary to his wife, has a particularly tender relationship with his daughter Izzy. A defense attorney, he works in the city and eventually agrees to help the McCulloughs in their legal case against Bebe Chow.
-
Jade Pettyjohn (Lexie Richardson)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu High-achieving, a perfectionist and a girly girl (much like her mother), Lexie, a high school senior and the eldest Richardson child, cannot decide whether her bigger dream is attending Yale or raising a family in her hometown. She becomes closer with Pearl, but exploits Pearl’s hardships by making them her own in her college essay, which leads to minor tension in her relationship with her boyfriend Brian.
-
Jordan Elsass (Trip Richardson)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu Trip — a high school junior and an athlete, popular and good-looking — may seem reprobate and uncaring on the surface, but as he grows closer to Pearl, his sensitivity and vulnerability begin to rise to the surface.
-
Gavin Lewis (Moody Richardson)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu A high school sophomore, good-hearted and delicate, Moody is the first Richardson family member to befriend Pearl. As he begins to develop romantic feelings for her, he seeks advice from his brother Trip and points out the manipulative nature of his family to Pearl as she’s increasingly being taken under Elena’s wing.
-
Megan Stott (Izzy Richardson)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu Incredibly rebellious and unconventionally creative, Izzie, a struggling freshman in high school and the youngest Richardson child, doesn’t quite fit into the picture-perfect image that Elena wants her family to project. Driven mad by her tightly regulated life and the over-parenting by mother, she quickly bonds with Mia, who makes her her photography assistant. As she’s drawn to the freedom expressed in Mia’s art, Izzy learns to use and raise her voice.
-
Huang Lu (Bebe Chow)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu Bebe, Mia’s co-worker at Lucky Place, quickly confides in Mia that she had given birth to her daughter May Ling Chow one year earlier, but was forced to drop her in front of a fire station due to her inability to properly take care of her. When she learns from Mia that the McCulloughs, friends of Elena and Bill’s, adopted her daughter, she kick-starts a brutal custody battle that shakes the community to the core.
-
Rosemarie DeWitt (Linda McCullough)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu Linda and Mark McCullough (Geoff Stults) are friends of Elena and Bill’s and Mary Ling Chow’s adoptive parents who happily, lovingly welcome her into their home (they rename her Mirabelle). Before the adoption can go through, Bebe is made aware of the whereabouts of her daughter, turning the McCulloughs’ life on its head as the mother makes a case for custody.
-
Stevonte Hart (Brian Harlins)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Hulu Like his girlfriend Lexie, Brian is a high school senior, who, however, has his heart set on Princeton University. He disapproves of Lexie’s attempt to use Pearl’s struggles to her own advantage.