Speechless was created by Scott Silveri, who wrote the pilot and was greenlighted to series by ABC on May 13, 2016, becoming a co-production between 20th Century Fox Television and ABC Studios.

Cedric Yarbrough was the first actor announced for the pilot on February 24, 2016, followed by Minnie Driver and John Ross Bowie who joined the main cast in March 2016.

The show is notable for casting Micah Fowler, an actor who himself has cerebral palsy, to play JJ DiMeo, a character with the same condition, making it one of the few series to have a disabled actor portray a disabled character.

JJ DiMeo has a running gag crush on actress Emma Watson throughout the series.

Speechless earned largely positive reviews, holding a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 41 reviews and a score of 79/100 on Metacritic, indicating generally favorable reception.

TV Guide placed Speechless seventh among its top ten most anticipated new shows for the 2016–17 season.

Despite critical acclaim, ABC cancelled Speechless in May 2019 after three seasons because it was the network's lowest-rated series, with its final season averaging only around 2.3 million live viewers.

Former ABC president Karey Burke described the decision to cancel Speechless as 'gut wrenching', and star Minnie Driver expressed hope the show left a lasting impact on conversations about disability and family.