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Amazon Prime has found its new Elle Woods for the upcoming Legally Blonde prequel series. Lex Minetree will be taking on the part, as original actress, Reese Witherspoon moves into an executive producer position.
In an Instagram video, Witherspoon who played the role in the 2001 and 2003 movies, shares the news in what appears to be a surprise setup. Minetree had made an impressive audition tape that helped convince the casting directors to make her Elle Woods.
According to IMDB, Minetree has been acting since 2016, originally as “Lexi Jones”. She has starred in multiple shorts until about 2020, when she transitioned to starring in TV movies and bit parts in procedural cop show, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
The site also lists six upcoming projects, including the Amazon show. Amazon is dubbing the prequel series simply “Elle”, and it’s now in pre-production.
No other actors have been confirmed for the show as of yet. The show also has no set date but is slated to release this year. Witherspoon said in an interview with Hollywood Reporter that the inspiration for the show came from Netflix’s Wednesday.
Legally Blonde has issues
A third Legally Blonde movie was expected in 2020, but of course, never released. According to MGM – which Amazon now owns – Mindy Kaling (The Office, Velma) and Dan Goor (Parks and Recreation, The Conan O’Brien Show) were set to rewrite the movie. However, this hasn’t materialized either.
This isn’t the first attempt at creating a TV show based on the movies. Another series was planned in 2003, the same year as the sequel. However, it was passed on and eventually found its way onto YouTube in 2017. Fans did not rate it highly.
The Legally Blonde franchise has also spanned into musicals in 2007. This wasn’t well received either, however has persisted past its original show dates. MTV ran a reality show for the 2008 run to find the next Elle Woods. The last production of the show was in 2024, which was run in Madrid, Spain.
A straight-to-DVD movie was also made but was also not well received.
Featured image: Lexi Minetree, MGM
