After 25 years, Alia Shawkat wants to team up with Mae Whitman to revisit their first starring roles with a State of Grace reunion.
Although the Wrong Girls star did not provide details of what a planned reunion would look like, Shawkat revealed she is “trying actively” to make something happen, but the 2001-’02 Fox Family/ABC Family series’ iconic ’60s soundtrack—including the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic” as the theme—makes it difficult bringing the original show to streaming.
“I never forget about it, but it makes me so happy that people know that it exists, because it was a rad show and it was really well written,” Shawkat told Deadline. “But the rights to the music are super expensive because it was all the top hits of the 60s, so I’ve been trying actively, honestly, with my lawyer to try and make it happen. But I don’t have money, so I can’t do it, dude.”
Created by Brenda Lilly and Hollis Rich, State of Grace followed 12-year-old Hannah Rayburn (Shawkat) and her middle-class Jewish family as they move to North Carolina in 1965, where she befriends wealthy Catholic girl Emma “Grace” McKee (Whitman).
Running for two seasons, the show also featured the narration of Frances McDormand, voicing the adult Hannah.
With both Shawkat and Whitman going on to a long list of onscreen credits over the years—including their reunion on Arrested Development—the former can be seen in The Wrong Girls, premiering Friday in theaters.
Written and directed by Dylan Meyer, The Wrong Girls stars Shawkat and Kristen Stewart as Molly and Frankie, two co-dependent stoner best friends struggling to pay rent, who gain the ability to read minds communicate telepathically when they try a mysterious new psychedelic drug.
