Hulu dives deep into Small beautiful things that make life worth living.
PEOPLE has the exclusive first trailer for the Kathryn Hahn-led Hulu series, which features a mother on the brink of personal burnout as she deals with divorce, grief and parenting a teenage daughter.
“My life is a mess. My husband kicked me out a few days ago. My daughter hates me,” Claire tells Han. “How did I get so far from the person I wanted to be? What would I tell my 22-year-old self?”
She has some immediate ideas: “Stop worrying about being fat. Who cares? Stop picking at your nose. Your nose is perfect. Don’t take your mother for granted. She won’t be here forever.”
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Elizabeth Morris/Hulu
As Claire deals with the stress of losing her marriage, as well as finding her daughter in situations she disapproves of, Claire crumbles under the pressures of adulthood. Throughout, flashbacks show her early 20s – when she truly believed her life would end differently.
Then she floated the idea of writing an advice column, which isn’t exactly a job Claire feels qualified to do at the moment.
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The relationship with her daughter parallels that of her own life with her mother. “One day you’ll look back on that Christmas when your mother gave you a mustard yellow coat,” Claire says as an older version of herself cries into her coat. the front porch. “Don’t pick it up and say it’s too puffy, because your mother will be dead by spring and this coat will be the last gift she ever gave you.”
Jessica Brooks/Hulu
Tensions rise with her own daughter. “I wish you weren’t my mother,” says the teenager.
“I could die tomorrow and if I did, you would never forgive yourself because that would be the last thing you ever said to me,” Claire replies.
But her daughter leaves another point hanging: “You’re not the only one who could die tomorrow – I could too.”
The trailer asks questions: “What does it mean to heal? To move on? To let go?”
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Erin Simkin/Hulu
The series is based on New York Times best selling novel Little Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life by Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed. Speaking with PEOPLE, Strayed shares what it’s like working with Khan.
“She has this extraordinary way of being funny and deep and vulnerable and smart and extraordinary and just like all of us in every move she makes,” Strayed says of Hahn. “I feel so honored that she said yes to this role. She is pure brilliance.”
The series, produced by Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, isn’t the first time Strayed has teamed up with Hollywood women. She is also the author of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and consulted on the Witherspoon-led film.
Hulu
“The long road to adaptation Small beautiful things because television began with the friendship forged between Reese and Laura and I when we were making Wild together,” Strayed tells PEOPLE. “We knew we wanted to collaborate on another project because it’s just so much fun to work with people you love and respect. And of course, this wonderful collaboration only deepened and expanded when Lauren Levy Neustadter, Liz Tiegelaar, Kathryn Hahn and so many others got involved.”
She adds: “I often say ‘we’re all Sugar’ and I believe that’s true in creating this show. There is a bit of truth and beauty from every person who has had a hand in presenting it to the world.”
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Small beautiful things premieres April 7 on Hulu.