The “Legally Blonde” prequel series at Amazon Prime Video has found its young Elle Woods.
Lexi Minetree has been cast in the lead role of “Elle,” which will follow Woods during her high school years before she went off to Harvard.
The original Elle Woods, Reese Witherspoon, made the casting announcement on Instagram. “Allow me to introduce you to the new Elle Woods!” Witherspoon wrote. “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”
The official logline for the series states, “‘Elle’ follows Elle Woods in high school as we learn about the life experiences that shaped her into the iconic young woman we came to know and love in the first ‘Legally Blonde’ film.”
This will be the first lead TV role of Minetree’s career. She has previously appeared on shows like “Law & Order: SVU” and in TV movies like “The Murdaugh Murders,” “Crowdsource Murder,” and “The Paramedic Who Stalked Me.”
She is repped by Stewart Talent and Luber Roklin.
“Elle” was originally greenlit at Amazon back in May 2024. Laura Kittrell created the series and serves as co-showrunner and executive producer alongside Caroline Dries. Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter, and Lauren Kisilevsky executive produce via Hello Sunshine along with Marc Platt. Amazon MGM Studios will produce.
The first “Legally Blonde” film was a box office success, grossing over $140 million worldwide following its release in 2001. The sequel “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde” was released in 2003. A direct-to-video third film came out in 2009, though Witherspoon did not star but did serve as a producer. A stage musical based on the first film debuted on Broadway in 2007, receiving multiple Tony and Drama Desk nominations.
