First Look: Cult Classic 2000s Comedy Returns as Series After 22 Years – Meet the New Heroine!

Shooting has just started for Elle, the prequel series to Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon announced on Instagram (via Variety). “Harvard was tough. High school was even tougher. Our new series, Elle, is now in production! I couldn’t be more excited to introduce everyone to Lexi Minetree as Elle Woods,” she wrote, sharing the first image of the actress fully clad in pink!

According to the official synopsis, the series “follows Elle Woods in high school and explores the life experiences that shaped her into the iconic young woman we came to know and love in the original Legally Blonde“.

The casting of Lexi Minetree was announced in February, marking her debut in a leading role following shorter appearances in shows like Law & Order: SVU, The Murdaugh Family Secrets, and Deceived by a Billionaire. The cast will also include Tom Everett Scott playing Elle’s father and June Diane Raphael as her mother.

Laura Kittrell, who developed Elle, will also serve as co-showrunner alongside Caroline Dries. Both are executive producers together with Marc Platt, Reese Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter, and Lauren Kisilevsky under Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine banner. The Amazon MGM studio greenlit the series in May 2024.

Released in 2001, Legally Blonde was directed by Robert Luketic and written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, based on the novel by Amanda Brown. The film significantly boosted Reese Witherspoon’s career shortly after her breakout roles in 1999 with Cruel Intentions and Election. She reprised her role as Elle Woods in the sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde in 2003. The original film was also adapted into a Broadway musical, which premiered in 2007.

While waiting for the series, both installments of the movie saga are available on VOD.