What, like it’s hard? Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and Prime Video will revisit the world of Legally Blonde with a prequel series, Elle, set to follow Elle Woods’ high school years.
The series was first ordered in May 2024, as exclusively reported by Deadline with Witherspoon taking the stage at Prime Video’s Upfronts to share the big news.
Everything we know about the ‘Elle’ prequel series lies below, including cast, release window and more.
When will the Elle prequel series come out?
No specific date has been set yet, but as of now, the show is expected to arrive at some point in 2026.
Is the Elle prequel in production?
Hello Sunshine and Prime Video revealed the series had wrapped production on August 8.
Who is in the Elle prequel series?
Lexi Minetree (The Murdaugh Murders) will step into Witherspoon’s pink high heels as Elle Woods. Minetree beat out Madison Wolf (True Detective, Mayfair Witches) in testing for the lead role in the series. Witherspoon welcomed Minetree to the project with a great sit-down chat.
Deadline broke the news that June Diane Raphael will portray Elle’s mother and role model, Eva. Tom Everett Scott, (The Summer I Turned Pretty, That Thing You Do) will portray Elle’s dad, Wyatt.
Deadline first reported that Gabrielle Policano (Baby Girl), Jacob Moskovitz (Y2K) and Chandler Kinney (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin) joined the cast as series regulars as Liz — the anit-Elle Woods, the school’s star athlete Miles and sharp-tongued senior Kimberly who is not Elle’s biggest fan, respectively.
RELATED: Chandler Kinney, Gabrielle Policano & Jacob Moskovitz Join ‘Legally Blonde’ Prequel Series
Next came the casting of Zac Looker (Geek Girl), Jessica Belkin (American Horror Story: Hotel) and Logan Shroyer (This Is Us) as Elle’s classmate Dustin, Elle’s best friend Madison and Elle’s crush Josh.
Amy Pietz joined the series in the role of Donna, the no-nonsense high school secretary.
Lisa Yamada (The Bold and the Beautiful), Chloe Wepper (The Rookie), David Burtka (How I Met Your Mother), Brad Harder (Supernatural) and Kayla Maisonet (The Rookie) will play key recurring characters. Yamada will play Bel-Air high school friend Amber, Wepper will play chemistry teacher and high school cheer team choreographer Ms. Burke, Burtka will appear as Elle’s family neighbor Chad and Maisonet will play another Bel-Air high school friend of Elle’s, Tiffany.
Daniel Chand will play Shannon, and Matt Oberg will portray Principal Anderson, according to the above-mentioned wrap video.
And last but certainly not least, James Van Der Beek has been cast as school district superintendent Dean Wilson, the city’s new mayoral candidate.
Who else is behind the Elle prequel series to Legally Blonde?
Laura Kittrell (High School, Insecure), created the series and served as its showrunner. Kittrell also executive produces with Hello Sunshine’s Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter and Lauren Kisilevsky as well the Legally Blonde movie franchise producer Marc Platt. The series is produced by Hello Sunshine and Amazon MGM Studios.
Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect) directed the series.
RELATED: ‘Legally Blonde’ Prequel Series Drops First Image Of Lexi Minetree As Elle Woods