A quarter century after the comedy film “Legally Blonde” became a cultural phenomenon, fans are finally getting their first glimpse at its highly anticipated prequel, âElle.â
The Amazon series will follow the character of Elle Woods throughout high school in the 1990s, years before she became the head of her college’s sorority Delta Nu, met boyfriend Warner Huntington III, and decided to attend Harvard Law. Here are the details.
The ‘Elle’ Teaser is Finally Here
In a first-look teaser for “Elle,” actress Lexi Minetree plays the iconic character. Also starring in the series are June Diane Raphael and Tom Everett Scott as Elle’s parents. James Van Der Beek, who passed in February 2026, appears as school superintendent Dean Wilson.
Minetree told Entertainment Tonight the series “takes place in 1995” and follows a young Elle Woods in high school. “It’s the origin story of how she got to be the woman we got to see in the movie. A confident, strong, funny woman.”
The actress added that every day she was “so excited to go to set. It’s such a fun script, and I feel like the writers have done such an amazing job of getting the joy and humor the original movie captured.”
Witherspoon told Minetree she got the role in person. She shared the iconic moment via Instagram.
She said, “Your audition tape was amazing, as we talked about. And we had to make a really hard decision the other day, and we wanted to tell you in person.”
Witherspoon continued, “You just worked really hard, and we wanted to tell you that you don’t have to audition anymore because you got the part. You’re Elle Woods.”
Reese Witherspoon Revealed the Inspiration For ‘Elle’
In a 2025 interview with Jimmy Fallon for “The Tonight Show,” Reese Witherspoon revealed her inspiration for tackling the origin story of her iconic “Legally Blonde” character, Elle Woods.
Witherspoon explained, “I saw that Wednesday Addams show [‘Wednesday’] and I was like, ‘oh, she was in high school?’ And I loved it. I watched every episode and I thought it was amazing.”
She continued, “Then I thought, ‘We should do Elle Woods in high school.’ I wanted to see who she was before college.”
“I started having all these ideas and these amazing writers came up with a great pitch,” Witherspoon added. “And now Amazon is making the show and its called ‘Elle.’”
At the time, Witherspoon was worried about having to pick an actress “to play the young me.” However, she called the process of watching audition tapes “so fun.”
“I just loved them all so much,” she added. “And [the actors] are doing such a good job. Now it’s different because when we used to audition, we would go into a casting office. Now they have to shoot, produce, do all the costumes; they have to put together videos that are basically a mini-movie.”
Reese Witherspoon starred in “Legally Blonde” in 2001. A sequel, “Legally Blonde: 2, Red, White & Blonde” hit theaters in 2003.
“Elle” premieres on Prime Video July 1.
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