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Get ready, Legally Blonde fans — Elle Woods is going back to school, and not the law kind. Reese Witherspoon just dropped the first look at the Legally Blonde prequel series, and it’s everything we hoped for. The new Amazon Prime Video show, simply titled Elle, has officially started filming, and it’s giving us a fresh take on everyone’s favorite pink-loving overachiever — this time, in high school.
Taking to social media, Reese shared a sneak peek of actress Lexi Minetree, who’ll be stepping into Elle’s signature heels as a teenage version of the iconic character. “Harvard was hard. High school was harder,” Reese captioned the post, clearly hyped to see Elle’s origin story come to life.
The series promises to dive into Elle’s younger years, long before she stunned Harvard Law School with her smarts and fashion sense. According to the show’s official summary, Elle will explore all the high school moments and personal experiences that helped shape the confident, clever woman we met in the original 2001 film.
Reese, who is Elle Woods to an entire generation, isn’t just cheering from the sidelines — she’s one of the executive producers. In fact, she helped pick Lexi Minetree herself. Talking to People, she admitted the casting process was wild, calling it a “trip” to see so many young actresses trying out for the role she made famous.
Appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Reese also shared a fun behind-the-scenes tidbit: it was Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday that gave her the idea for the prequel. “I thought it was amazing,” she said, “and I was like, ‘We should do Elle Woods in high school!’” (Honestly, genius.)
This is a major breakout role for Lexi Minetree, who’s had smaller appearances on shows like Law & Order: SVU. She’ll be joined by Tom Everett Scott as Elle’s dad and June Diane Raphael as her mom — both perfectly cast for this stylish, spirited teen world.
Behind the scenes, the series has some heavy hitters. It’s co-run by Laura Kittrell and Caroline Dries, with Reese’s Hello Sunshine production company leading the charge. Even better? The original Legally Blonde screenwriters, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, are writing the show, and Robert Luketic, who directed the OG movie, is back in the director’s chair.
With so many familiar names on board and a new Elle ready to take center stage, Elle is shaping up to be a nostalgic, feel-good watch — and a great way to introduce the next generation to the pink power of Elle Woods.