Prime Video began production on its new series, Elle, and on April 2, Reese Witherspoon released a first-look photo of Lexi Minetree as Elle Woods.
When reporting on the series update, Deadline shared Prime Video commits to going back in time to tell Elle's past right: "You can tell they’ve gone back in time as the teen uses her clear phone to speak to her friends on a landline, as many did in the '90s. And in true Elle Woods fashion, she’s wearing a pink hoodie and surrounded by her pink bedding."
Viewers can expect a lot of pink attire, corded phones, and possibly some great dialogue. If they fully commit, the audience will be transported back to a different era of music and feel like we're in the Legally Blonde films with a younger spin.
After Legally Blonde sent Reese Witherspoon into stardom in the early 2000s, reviving the franchise to tell Elle's high school days story was a no-brainer. Variety shared that "Laura Kittrell created Elle and serves as co-showrunner with Caroline Dries. Both are executive producers alongside Marc Platt as well as Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter, and Lauren Kisilevsky via Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine banner."
Fans are in for a treat. Before there were pink high heels on Harvard's campus, Elle attended high school and lived at home in southern California. The series' official logline says: “follows Elle Woods in high school 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.”
Longtime fans will finally learn more about the fashion and law icon, Elle Woods. Unfortunately, not much is known about her high school or college days before she decided to apply to Harvard. Fans know she attended high school in California and went on to join the Delta Nu House in college. But those are small facts that make up her big personality. I'm looking forward to learning more about what molded her into the powerful lawyer fans came to love in the films in 2001 and 2003.
Elle casting updates
Prime Video has announced another casting update. Given the "production has begun" announcement on April 2, the Elle series cast is filling out. As of March 27, the prequel has actors for Elle, her parents, Miles, Kimberly, and Liz.
In February, the streamer announced that Lexi Minetree would play Elle. In March, they announced that Tom Everett Scott and June Diane Raphael would appear as Elle Woods' parents. Rounding out the Woods family made the prequel feel confirmed in my eyes, as fans are one step closer to seeing them on screen. At the end of March, Deadline reported that Chandler Kinney, Jacob Moskovitz, and Gabrielle Policano would be joining the cast as high school students. Fans will meet a new cast of characters since the films only focus on college and Harvard interactions.
Fans can expect some chaos to go down if these character descriptions are any hint as to how the series will be. Along with which actors would join the cast, Deadline shared a little bit about their characters: Moskovitz plays Miles, who's a "star athlete" with a crush on Elle. Kinney plays Kimberly, a senior who doesn't get along with Elle. Policano plays Liz, who's described as "the anti-Elle Woods." Each actor comes with excellent acting credentials. Kinney recently starred in Max's Pretty Little Liars reboot, Moskovitz was featured in Y2K, and Policano appeared in a supporting role in Babygirl.
With this prequel, a new generation will experience the Legally Blonde era in its prime years. Fans eagerly await a release date. If production starts in early April 2025, maybe we'll see Elle on our screens by the end of 2025 or early 2026. But for now, we'll follow along for more surprise updates.