Legally Blonde Prequel: Reese Witherspoon Shares First Look of Young Elle Woods; ‘Couldn't be More Excited’

Reese Witherspoon has dropped the first look at the Legally Blonde prequel. The actress took to social media to share a sneak peek of young Elle Woods, played by Lexi Minetree. The upcoming Amazon Prime Video series recently began filming.

“Harvard was hard. High school was harder. Our new series, Elle, is now in production!” she captioned the post. The Morning Show actress wrote that she “couldn't be more excited” to introduce the world to Minetree as the younger version of her iconic character.

According to the official synopsis, the prequel will follow Elle Woods during her high school years and highlight the life experiences that “shaped her into the iconic young woman” beloved in the original Legally Blonde film.

Witherspoon, who portrayed the original character, serves as an executive producer on the series. She was also involved in the casting process and told People magazine that auditioning young and talented actors was a “trip.”

During her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Reese Witherspoon revealed that Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday inspired her to explore Elle’s life before she became legally blonde. “I thought it was amazing,” she said. “And I was like, 'We should do Elle Woods in high school!’”

Lexi Minetree was announced as the lead of the series in February, marking her first major role following brief appearances on Law & Order: SVU. Tom Everett Scott stars as Elle’s father, while June Diane Raphael plays her mother.

Laura Kittrell serves as co-showrunner of the prequel series, titled Elle, alongside Caroline Dries. Both also executive produce the show along with Witherspoon, Marc Platt, Lauren Neustadter, and Lauren Kisilevsky under Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine banner.

The series is written by Legally Blonde screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith. Original Legally Blonde director Robert Luketic returns to direct the prequel.

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