Alia Shawkat Is 'Actively Trying' to Bring State of Grace Back — With Mae Whitman
Alia Shawkat says she is "trying actively" to bring State of Grace to streaming and plans a reunion with her former co-star Mae Whitman. The actress, currently in theatres with The Wrong Girls opposite Kristen Stewart, shared the update in an interview published 12 August 2026 by Deadline.
State of Grace aired on Fox Family (later ABC Family) for two seasons, from 2001 to 2002. Created by Brenda Lilly and Hollis Rich, the series followed 12-year-old Hannah Rayburn, played by Shawkat, and her middle-class Jewish family as they relocated to North Carolina in 1965. There, Hannah befriends Emma "Grace" McKee, a wealthy Catholic girl played by Whitman. Frances McDormand narrated the series as the adult Hannah.
The road to streaming is not straightforward. Shawkat said the rights to the show's 1960s soundtrack — including the Lovin' Spoonful's "Do You Believe in Magic," which served as the theme song — are expensive, and that cost makes it difficult to bring the original episodes to a streaming platform. Music licensing is a common hurdle for older television series: songs cleared for broadcast decades ago often require fresh, costly deals before a show can appear on a modern service.
This would not be the first time Shawkat and Whitman have worked together since State of Grace. The two later reunited on Arrested Development, where Shawkat played Maeby Fünke and Whitman appeared as her on-screen love interest, Ann Veal. The pair also came together once before for a State of Grace cast and creators reunion, scheduled at the ATX Television Festival in 2016 alongside reunions for The West Wing and Rescue Me, as reported by Deadline in April 2016.
Shawkat's latest film, The Wrong Girls, written and directed by Dylan Meyer and co-starring Kristen Stewart, premiered in cinemas on Friday. The State of Grace streaming effort, by contrast, remains a work in progress with no platform, timeline, or deal attached.
For fans of a show that has been largely unavailable to watch legally for over two decades, even an unconfirmed attempt is something to hold onto.
