The series was intended to be an anthology, with each season set in an entirely different location from the original 1989 film, and a second season titled Heathers: Revolution reportedly had a complete script before cancellation.

Before this version, Heathers had been in development twice before: in 2009 Sony Pictures Television planned an adaptation for Fox with all original film characters, and in 2012 Bravo developed an unrelated reboot set 20 years later featuring Veronica's daughter facing a new clique of mean girls all named 'Ashley,' but Bravo passed on it in 2013.

Shannen Doherty, who played Heather Duke in the original 1989 film, returned in the reboot in a different role as JD's mother, Mrs. Dean, and also appeared as a hallucinatory character called Dr. Destiny in one episode.

Filming took place in Los Angeles, with the pilot shot in November 2016 and the rest of the season filmed in the Chatsworth area from spring to fall 2017; Rancho San Antonio was used as the location for Westerburg High School.

The show's premiere was delayed twice due to real-world school shootings: first postponed from March to July 2018 after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, then dropped entirely by Viacom in June 2018 following the Santa Fe High School shooting.

Despite being pulled in the U.S., the series had already been sold internationally and debuted as scheduled on HBO Europe on July 11, 2018, in its original uncut 10-episode version, well before its eventual American premiere.

When Heathers finally aired in the U.S. on Paramount Network in October 2018, it was edited for content, cutting a scene depicting the school being blown up and altering a first-person shooter video game scene involving teachers with guns, reducing the episode count from 10 to 9.

After the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting on October 27, 2018, Paramount Network pulled two already-released episodes from its broadcast schedule, even though they had been available online and in the app since October 22.