The series was first announced in February 2019 with Jane Featherstone and Reed Morano set to adapt Naomi Alderman's 2016 novel for Amazon, though Sister Pictures had actually optioned the book back in 2016.

Reed Morano exited the project in March 2022, choosing not to be credited as either director or executive producer.

The writers room was entirely female, including Claire Wilson, Sarah Quintrell, Whit Anderson, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Rebecca Levene, Raelle Tucker, Sue Chung, Brennan Peters, and Michelle Hsu.

Leslie Mann was originally cast as Margot Cleary-Lopez in late 2019 but dropped out in May 2022 and was replaced by Toni Collette.

Rainn Wilson was cast as Daniel Dandon in February 2020, but scheduling conflicts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led to his replacement by Tim Robbins in January 2021; Robbins himself later dropped out in 2022 and was replaced by Josh Charles.

Production was originally set to begin in Georgia, USA in late 2019, but the shoot was relocated to Fairford and Lechlade in southwest England after Georgia signed a restrictive new abortion law.

Filming began in early February 2020 but was paused the following month due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to pandemic-related travel restrictions, Bawdsey in England was used as a filming location to stand in for Toronto, where shooting had originally been planned; the production also filmed near Walvis Bay in Namibia in late October 2021.

Toni Collette shot all of her scenes for the series over a concentrated period of just five weeks.