More than 20 years after the original Legally Blonde became one of the most beloved comedies of all time, Prime Video is taking fans back to where it all began. Light series spoilers ahead.
Instead of following Elle Woods through the halls of Harvard Law School, Elle rewinds the clock to 1995, when everyone’s favorite future lawyer is just trying to survive high school in Seattle. Long before proving everyone wrong in court, she’s navigating awkward friendships, first crushes, family drama, and yes, a few questionable fashion choices.
The coming-of-age series explores how Elle became the relentlessly optimistic, fiercely compassionate woman audiences fell in love with in the original films. While she’s still unmistakably Elle, the prequel introduces viewers to a younger version of the character who doesn’t always have all the answers.
Leading the series is Lexi Minetree as the teenage Elle Woods, with June Diane Raphael and Tom Everett Scott playing her parents, Eva and Wyatt Woods. Elle’s high school world is rounded out by classmates played by Gabrielle Policano, Chandler Kinney (Zombies), Jacob Moskovitz, Zac Looker, and Amy Pietz, with recurring appearances from Jessica Belkin, Danielle Chand, Matt Oberg, Chloe Wepper, Logan Shroyer, Sharon Taylor, David Burtka, Brad Harder, Kayla Maisonet, Lisa Yamada, and James Van Der Beek.
Created by Laura Kittrell and co-showrun with Caroline Dries, Elle is executive-produced by Kittrell, Dries, Lauren Neustadter, and Reese Witherspoon, who first brought Elle Woods to life and helped turn the character into a pop culture icon more than two decades ago.
Elle Woods has always belonged to the girls and the gays
For many LGBTQ+ fans, Elle Woods has never just been a movie character. She’s been an icon.
“Elle Woods is for the girls and the gays,” Minetree told Gayety. “What makes her so inspirational is how fiercely herself she is, even in an environment where she looks different than other people. She embraces her own style… but she always has this core of who she is.”
She says that’s exactly why queer audiences have connected with Elle for so long.
“I feel like a lot of the queer community, that’s also a big part of it, embracing who you are… owning that and not caring if you’re different than other people.”
Minetree also couldn’t resist reminding everyone of another beloved member of the Legally Blonde family tree.
“It’s canonically known that Bruiser is gay too,” she laughed, talking about Elle’s iconic Chihuahua.
Her castmates immediately jumped in.
“Bruiser is so gay,” joked Policano.
“The best ally,” everyone agreed. A gay, vegetarian Gemini Chihuahua? Bruiser Woods has always been that dog.
No tragic coming out stories here
One of the biggest additions to the Legally Blonde universe is a cast of queer characters whose lives don’t revolve solely around their sexuality.
Policano plays Liz, one of the first students Elle attempts to befriend, and is one of the show’s openly queer characters.
“I don’t think that’s a spoiler,” she laughed. “The minute you see her, you’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s a lesbian.’”
For Policano, portraying Liz meant ensuring queer audiences could see something refreshingly normal.
“I made sure to talk with our showrunners and be like, ‘This isn’t going to be a tragic gay story,’” she said. “Those are really important. We also need representation of just gay people being gay, living their lives, who have other stuff going on that’s not just them being gay and sad about it.”
She hopes younger viewers recognize themselves in Liz.
“It’s my dream that people will watch the show and then pause it and be like, ‘I’m going to come out to my parents in the living room right now.’”
The queer representation starts behind the camera
That authenticity begins with the people making the show.
Kittrell revealed that growing up as the only openly gay teenager in her small-town high school made Elle Woods unexpectedly personal.
“When I saw this movie… even if I don’t necessarily present as someone who seems like Elle Woods… the fact that she was so resilient and had so much confidence, and even if people had problems with her, she never doubted herself, was a huge message for me.”
Television became one of the places where she found community, something she wanted to pass on to a new generation.
“Television and movies were hugely important to me, and I think actually the only reason that I was able to come out when I did,” Kittrell said. “Anytime I am ever working on a show about teenagers, there will be a queer character in it. I promise you that.”
Dries said one of her favorite moments in the season comes when Elle realizes one of her new friends is gay.
“We knew that would be a pivotal moment in defining who Elle is as a character,” she said. “Her reaction to it is so quintessential Elle, and it really just makes you fall in love with the character.”
She also teased that Elle’s famously questionable “gaydar” becomes a recurring joke throughout the series.
“One of the most fun through-lines of the story is her bad gaydar,” Dries laughed, hinting that fans should keep watching to see whether it eventually improves.
Kindness never goes out of style
While Elle delivers plenty of nostalgia, fashion, and early-’90s charm, the cast says the show’s biggest takeaway is the same lesson audiences learned from the original film.
Be yourself.
“I think this show really, at its core, is showing that it’s actually a really beautiful thing to be so unapologetically and unabashedly yourself,” Kinney said.
Raphael echoed that sentiment, explaining why Elle continues to resonate decades later.
“You could be really hyper-feminine and really obsessed with pink and fashion and makeup and hair and also really smart,” she said. “It’s a basic concept, but unfortunately, it was really important to see when the movie came out and arguably just as important now.”
Because at the end of the day, that’s always been the magic of Legally Blonde. It’s about believing in yourself when no one else does. And that’s a lesson that never goes out of style.
The first season of Elle is now streaming on Prime Video.