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Lexi Minetree stars as a young Elle Woods in Elle, Prime Video’s prequel series to the original Reese Witherspoon-starring movies
As a big fan of the iconic 2001 movie, I am counting down the days until the arrival of Prime Video’s highly anticipated prequel, which is a joint production between Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, Neubauer Studios and Amazon MGM.
With Reese on board as executive producer, there’s no doubt the upcoming coming-of-age story will live up to fans’ expectations. Plus, the casting is brilliant – the resemblance between lead actress Lexi Minetree and Reese is uncanny! I can’t wait to see her portrayal of the much-loved star lawyer-in-the-making.
Say what you like about the basic premise of Prime Video’s new Legally Blonde prequel series Elle—because, like, if the whole point of watching the 2001 original was seeing Elle Woods undergo major character development, isn’t spending a bunch of time with her pre-development going to be kind of a drag?—but it clearly doesn’t lack for confidence. In fact, Prime Video is so convinced that people are going to want more of Lexi Minetree‘s take on a teenaged Reese Witherspoon that it’s already ordered a second sequel of the series, fully six months before the first season has aired. Which is, honestly, one hell of a called shot.
This is per Deadline, which notes that the series (executive produced by Witherspoon, and created by former Insecure and High School producer Laura Kittrell) has been set for a July 1 debut on the Amazon-owned streaming service. Which seems like a long way off, but apparently whatever Prime executives have already seen of the show—which also stars June Diane Raphael, Tom Everett Scott, Chandler Kinney, Jacob Moskovitz, Gabrielle Policano, and Zac Looker—has apparently been so incredible, so “write a letter to get yourself into Harvard Law School” convincing, that they’ve already doubled down on the series.
Keep reading to find out all we know.
What to expect from Elle
The series, which comes 25 years after the original film, follows Elle Woods in high school, where she learned the life experiences that shaped her into the iconic young woman viewers came to know in Legally Blonde.
Reese, who portrayed Elle in the original film and its sequel, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, said it’s “a dream come true” to share the story of how Elle Woods became “the unstoppable force we all fell in love with”.
Praising the spin-off’s leading star, Lexi Minetree, Reese said: “Discovering Lexi Minetree and watching her step into Elle’s fabulous shoes has been one of the most gratifying experiences of my career. I think our series’ themes of kindness, authenticity, and believing in yourself will resonate deeply with fans of the original films and new audiences alike.”
She continued: “Working with our incredible Hello Sunshine team, Amazon and our visionary writers and directors to bring Elle’s high school journey to life has been a tremendous joy. I can’t wait to share Season One with the world and start rolling cameras on Season Two!”
As noted, Elle is a high school-set prequel, with Minetree portraying a teenaged version of its title character as she learns a lot of things about confidence and self-acceptance that she will then presumably have to un-learn, so that she can then learn them all over again in Legally Blonde and, to a lesser extent, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, And Blonde. Witherspoon herself has weighed in on the news—although not, to our great frustration, on the implications for the wider Legally Blonde Multiverse—with a statement, noting that, “Discovering Lexi Minetree and watching her step into Elle’s fabulous shoes has been one of the most gratifying experiences of my career. I think our series’ themes of kindness, authenticity, and believing in yourself will resonate deeply with fans of the original films and new audiences alike. Working with our incredible Hello Sunshine team, Amazon and our visionary writers and directors to bring Elle’s high school journey to life has been a tremendous joy. I can’t wait to share Season One with the world and start rolling cameras on Season Two!”
Who stars in the series?
The series, which is created by Laura Kittrell (High School, Insecure), stars Lexi Minetree (Law and Order: SVU) as Elle Woods.
She’s joined by June Diane Raphael (Grace and Frankie) as Elle’s mother Eva, and Tom Everett Scott (The Summer I Turned Pretty) as her father Wyatt.
Other cast members include Gabrielle Policano, Jacob Moskovitz, Chandler Kinney, and Zac Looker. Recurring cast members include Jessica Belkin, Logan Shroyer, Amy Pietz, Matt Ober, Chloe Wepper, David Burtka, Brad Harder, Kayla Maisonet, Lisa Yamada, and James Van Der Beek.
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