ET spoke with the actress via Zoom on Thursday, ahead of the 'Every Vote Counts' special she's co-hosting Thursday on CBS.
Kerry Washington is opening up about whether Little Fires Everywhere fans will get to see her and co-star Reese Witherspoon onscreen together again.
While speaking to ET on Thursday, the 43-year-old actress set the record straight on whether a second season of the hit HBO series is coming, and what her friendship with Witherspoon is like today.
"So we were never planning to do a season 2 for Little Fires," Washington confirmed. "It was a limited series. That's all there is, that's all she wrote. Elena and Mia are not coming back."
"But Reese and I, we just adore each other and really loved working together," she added. "So we have a few other projects in the works and we'll continue to move those along."
While Washington played coy on what those projects entail, she did give ET an update on where fans can catch her next.
"Next month I'll be in The Prom, the film on Netflix from Ryan Murphy with Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and James Corden," she teased. "It's a really, really exciting project that's based on a Broadway musical. There's singing, dancing and laughter, and it's just such a feel-good project. I'm really happy to be a part of it."
In the meantime, Washington has been focusing her efforts on the upcoming 2020 presidential election, encouraging fans to get out and vote. She's teamed up with Alicia Keys and America Ferrera to co-host CBS' Every Vote Counts: A Celebration of Democracy special, airing Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The event will also feature appearances by stars like Eva Longoria, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock, Kelly Clarkson and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
"We just really wanted to come together to create a night of fun, a night to celebrate democracy," Washington explained. "It feels like there's a lot of anxiety and tension about the upcoming election, but we wanted to remind people that people are voting in extraordinary historic numbers. I think we're stepping into our power and we wanted to celebrate that power and center [around] the voter. Tonight is not about any of the candidates. Tonight is about you. It's about our ability, your ability, as voters to have an impact and make a difference."
"For me, when I vote, it's an acknowledgement that I matter," she continued. "I always say, these elected officials, they work for us. When we pay our taxes, we pay their salaries. We are the boss. So when we don't show up and vote, it's like we're asleep on the job. We're not bossing up. We need to vote to have our values expressed and to let people know what we think and how we feel."
While many of Washington's fans love seeing her play powerful political figures on TV (her performance as Olivia Pope on Scandal landed her multiple Emmy nominations and one Golden Globe nod), the actress told ET she doesn't "have a desire to be in politics" at the moment.
"But I do feel really passionate about people knowing that they matter," she explained. "And feeling like they deserve to be at the center of their story, the hero of their own family and community and life. I think that's why I'm drawn to stories as an actor and a producer that celebrate people stepping into their power and into their truth and into their value."
"I'm drawn to projects that make people feel seen and the same is true for me in civic engagement," she added. "I just want everybody to feel like they matter. I want everybody to feel seen and heard."
Washington told ET that she's already starting to instill the importance of voting into her own young children. The actress shares three kids with husband Nnamdi Asomugha.
"We talk to them about it. They sit with us when we vote," Washington shared. "We're very open about the trips that we're taking to help you encourage people to turn out and vote. My mom brought me into the voting booth when I was a kid. I used to stand in line with my mom and go in there and it was like The Wizard of Oz. Like, she would pull open this curtain and pull these levers and I just thought, 'Well, this is tremendously powerful.'"
"We have to set the example in the doing," she added. "It's really like, 'Watch us! See how much we care.' And we hope that they will care as well. Because we hope that they feel like they matter and that their voices are required and necessary in a democracy."
Every Vote Counts is produced by Live Nation, Global Citizen and Live Animals, executive produced by Hugh Evans and Michael Rapino, and co-produced by Ryan Piers Williams, Chris Stadler, Rick Yorn, AK Worldwide, Harness, Simpson Street and Sunshine Sachs.
Hear more in the video below.
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