Case Closed — 'Legally Blonde' Prequel Series Finds Its Elle Woods

1 month ago 18

Legally Blonde

Blended image showing Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods holding a law book

Reese Witherspoon is officially passing the baton to a younger generation, as the legendary actress took to Instagram today to announce that the Legally Blonde prequel series, Elle, has finally cast its titular character. After an open national casting call that invited performers from all over the country to don some pink heels and take their best shot at appearing as the younger version of the beloved character, a winner was finally picked from the running. Lexi Minetree has been cast in the role that will allow her to put her own spin on Elle Woods during the character’s younger years in high school.

In her caption, Witherspoon wrote:

“Allow me to introduce you to the new Elle Woods! After watching so many incredible auditions for the new Elle prequel series on @PrimeVideo, we finally found our Elle. And today, I got to break the news myself! Meet @leximinetree”

Attached with the written announcement was a video of the past and future colliding, with Witherspoon and Minetree meeting for the first time. As could be expected, both women were decked out in their finest shades of pink, with Witherspoon praising the young actress’ audition tape, calling it "amazing." After a long lead-up that undoubtedly took Minetree on a rollercoaster of emotions, the You’re Cordially Invited star finally broke the terrific news, leaving the prequel’s newly cast lead in floods of joyful tears.

Who Is Lexi Minetree?

Her casting in Elle marks a major milestone in Minetree’s career and trajectory forward in the entertainment industry. The young performer’s promising credits so far include a one-off episode of Law & Order: SVU and a supporting role as Bailey Swann in the Tubi original series, The Murdaugh Murders. As of right now, no further casting details surrounding Prime Video’s prequel series have been released, but with perhaps the largest piece of the puzzle in place, we can expect further reveals to begin popping out of the woodwork.

As for the creative brains behind Elle, the project will be under the watchful eyes of co-showrunners Laura Kittrell (High School, Insecure) and Caroline Dries, with the former also credited as the project’s creator. Both Kittrell and Dries also executive produce alongside Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter, Lauren Kisilevsky, and Marc Platt, with Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine partnering with Amazon MGM Studios to produce.

You can check out Witherspoon break the incredibly exciting news to Minetree above and stay tuned to Collider for more information about the highly-anticipated Legally Blonde prequel series, Elle.