'Surface' 's Reese Witherspoon on 'Sublime' Reunion with 'Morning Show' Costar Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

Witherspoon, 46, who is one of the executive producers of the show, said working with Mbatha-Raw is “the greatest.”

“She’s just sublime as a performer,” the2022 Emmy nomineetold PEOPLE.

The Hello Sunshine founder continued that theBellestar, 39, is “light and beautiful and you can’t take your eyes off her.” Added Witherspoon, “This show and this character, I think is one of my favorite characters she’s ever played, because there’s a lightness and a darkness to it.”

InSurface, Mbatha-Raw plays Sophie, a woman who is desperately trying to rebuild her life after a suicide attempt while piecing together the things that led up to that moment.

As for the choice of casting Mbatha-Raw, Witherspoon attributed a lot of it to her work inThe Morning Show, where she played head booker Hannah Shoenfeld. “We saw the reaction to her character onMorning Show, it was just so profound and audiences loved her,” Witherspoon said. “We wanted to do more and we want to partner with her as a producer because she brings so much to the work, is so professional, she’s got great ideas, works so hard with the directors and the crew to make it happen and it’s just been a it’s been a joy.”

“I love to see her soar,” theWildstar said, “I get emotional.”

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Mbatha-Raw was just as complimentary of her costar and fellow executive producer, telling PEOPLE it was “such a treat” to work with Witherspoon again.

“I feel so excited because it was my first opportunity to be an executive producer on the project,” theLokistar said, noting that it is an “incredible growth opportunity.”

For her part, Witherspoon said Mbatha-Raw “works her tail off and she really cares and she puts in the hard hours. A lot of people don’t know what we do all day, 15, 16, 17-hour days and she’s one of the really, really hard workers in our business so it’s thrilling to watch her story like this.”

Mbatha-Raw noted, “I’m so thankful for Hello Sunshine already willing to work in terms of empowering women and opening the door for other women behind them to really feel like they can grow the industry and look on the production not just in front of your house,” the actress said.

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When asked what it’s like to actually work with Witherspoon, Mbatha-Raw said, “Oh my gosh. I mean, everybody feels like they know Reese.”

Mbatha-Raw added that Witherspoon is “a great boss and a great executive and a great mentor.”

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source: people.com