None other than Reese Witherspoon, THE Elle Woods, announced on Instagram that a “Legally Blonde” prequel series entitled “Elle” is slated to air on Amazon Prime Video next year.
The Academy Award-winning actress appeared earlier this week at Prime’s upfront presentation to advertisers to make the announcement. Her media company Hello Sunshine will be producing the series.
According to Witherspoon’s Instagram post, “Elle” will follow the titular character in the ’90s as a high school girl “as we learn about the life experiences that shaped her into the iconic young woman we came to know and love in the first ‘Legally Blonde’ film.”
In the first film released in 2001, Woods, a sorority sister at the Delta Nu House at the fictional California University Los Angeles, strives to be accepted into Harvard Law School after her boyfriend broke up with her by saying he “needs to marry a Jackie, not a Marilyn.”
The film follows her journey to and at law school as a stylish and witty student accompanied by her chihuahua Bruiser. Adjusting to the law school landscape, she finds herself alienated by the seriousness of prep school-type characters, her ex-boyfriend and his new fiancé included. She goes on to help a sorority sister accused of murder in court, help a nail technician get her dog from an abusive ex, and graduate at the top of her class.
Witherspoon reprised her character in the sequel released two years later where as a practicing lawyer she helps free Bruiser’s mother locked up in an animal testing facility by crafting a bill in Washington, D.C. banning animal testing.
Fans are especially clamoring about who will play the young Elle Woods in the prequel written by Laura Kittrell. While no cast has been announced yet, Witherspoon has this to say: “Fans will get to know how Elle Woods navigated her world as a teenager with her distinct personality and ingenuity, in ways that only our beloved Elle could do. What could be better than that?!”
In the meantime, here’s another huge news for fans of the movie: “Legally Blonde 3” is also reportedly in the works. Written by Mindy Kaling and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” co-creator Dan Goor, the movie will star a returning Witherspoon as Elle Woods.
Photo from MGM/Everett Collection