Reese Witherspoon Will Narrate Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman

Actress opened up about taking on her next project

By Lily Harrison Apr 23, 2015 4:10 PMTags
Reese Witherspoon, 2015 Academy of Country Music Awards, Best LooksJason Merritt/Getty Images

Little has been revealed up until this point about Harper Lee's soon-to-be released second novel, Go Set a Watchman, but one of Hollywood's most famous faces is now linked to the highly anticipated project.

Reese Witherspoon will lend her voice to the audio version of the To Kill a Mockingbird follow-up.

The Oscar-winning actress spoke about the exciting news to USA Today, saying, "as a Southerner, it is an honor and a privilege to give voice to the Southern characters who inspired a childhood love of reading, Scout and Atticus Finch."

The mother of three added that she's "eager for readers to be transported to a pivotal time in American history in the manner that only Lee's gorgeous prose can deliver."

This marks the first time that Witherspoon will narrate an audiobook, but she's no stranger to adapting books into features films—after all, she produced David Fincher's Gone Girl and produced and starred in Wild.

Both the novel and the audiobook of Go Set a Watchman are slated for a July 14 release date.

Shortly after the second novel was announced, Lee released the following statement:

"In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called Go Set a Watchman. It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman and I thought it a pretty decent effort," Lee explained.

"My editor, who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout's childhood, persuaded me to write a novel from the point of view of the young Scout. I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told."

HarperCollins said that Go Set a Watchman "casts a fascinating new light on Harper Lee's enduring classic."