Elle (TV series)
American comedy television series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elle (also marketed as Elle: From the World of Legally Blonde) is an American comedy television series developed by Laura Kittrell, serving as a prequel to the Legally Blonde franchise. The series takes place six years before the events of the first film and it explores the high school years of teenage Elle Woods (originally portrayed by Reese Witherspoon), portrayed by newcomer Lexi Minetree.
| Elle | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Based on | |
| Developed by | Laura Kittrell |
| Showrunners |
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| Starring |
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| Music by | Tom Howe |
| Opening theme | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producer | Bryan J. Raber |
| Cinematography |
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| Editors |
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| Running time | 43–56 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | Amazon Prime Video |
| Release | July 1, 2026 – present |
The series is helmed by showrunner Kittrell and is executive producing alongside Witherspoon and producer Marc Platt. Production began in April 2025. It premiered on July 1, 2026. In January 2026, the series was renewed for a second season.
Premise
A prequel to Legally Blonde, the series explores Elle Woods’ teenage years in the 1990s as a high school student in Seattle,[1] long before she became the ambitious Harvard law student in the films.[2]
Cast
Main
- Lexi Minetree as Elle Woods
- June Diane Raphael as Eva Woods, Elle's mother
- Tom Everett Scott as Wyatt Woods, Elle's father
- Jacob Moskovitz as Miles
- Gabrielle Policano as Liz, an out and proud lesbian at Rainer West High School whom Elle befriends
- Chandler Kinney as Kimberly, a mean girl at Rainer West High School
- Zac Looker as Dustin
- Amy Pietz as Donna, the secretary at Rainer West High School in Seattle that Elle goes to and Liz's mother
Recurring
- Matt Oberg as Principal Anderson, the principal of Rainer West High School
- Jessica Belkin as Madison, Elle's best friend in Los Angeles
- Kayla Maisonet as Tiffany
- Logan Shroyer as Hot Josh
- Lisa Yamada as Amber
- Chloe Wepper as Ms. Burke, Elle's chemistry teacher at Rainer West High School
- David Burtka as Chad
- Danielle Chand as Shannon, Kimberly's best friend and Miles' girlfriend
- James Van Der Beek as Dean Wilson, the current superintendent and Medina's new mayoral candidate
- Brad Harder as Charlie
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | Jason Moore | Laura Kittrell | July 1, 2026 | |
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Elle Woods is celebrating her Sweet 16 at her house in Bel-Air when her parents Wyatt and Eva tell her that her father lost his job and they are relocating to Seattle, upsetting Elle, so to compensate, her mother gets her a Chihuahua that she names Bruiser. Elle starts her first day at her new school, but her LA sensibilities clash with everyone’s laid-back and uninspired vibe, she makes acquaintances with students Liz and Dustin, and befriends star player Miles, but is rejected by senior Kimberly due to her appearance. The school’s secretary Donna shows her compassion and reveals to her that she often bends the rules to help students. Elle’s best friend Madison convinces her to try to be more relatable, but Kimberly accuses her of being a poser to get everyone to like her. About to give up, her mother motivates her to get more involved, so she helps Dustin with a school auction by explaining that the purpose is to give the support staff fair wages, especially Donna, explaining everything she’s done for them, and the crowd backs her up. Unfortunately the next day, Donna is fired after Elle reveals the rules she’s broken, leaving Elle feeling guilty. | |||||
| 2 | "No Silly, I Go Here" | Jason Moore | Eli Wilson Pelton | July 1, 2026 | |
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Elle starts a petition to get Donna rehired, but Principal Anderson refuses due to all of the rules Donna’s broken, just as he receives an orange suede coat that he claims is his wife’s, Donna forgives Elle but asks her not to interfere. Elle meets Shannon, a nice senior who is also best friends with Kimberly, she invites her mother Eva to Shannon’s mother Robin’s book signing, where Elle learns that Seattle women don’t wear suede, leading Elle to believe that Anderson is cheating on his wife, and they decide to use this as leverage to get Donna’s job back, however her mother embarrasses her by comparing her father losing her job to Robin being evicted due to racism. Elle invites Liz to an event at CarpetMart hoping to reconvene with her where Kimberly reveals that Donna is Liz’s mother and Liz admits that they live outside the school district but Anderson lets her attend school and could get expelled if Anderson gets fired. Feeling useless, Dustin cheers her up by helping her enjoy the concert before being knocked out. Miles takes her to the hospital and they have a moment before she discovers Miles and Shannon are dating. | |||||
| 3 | "You're Not The Girl I Thought You Were" | Sammi Cohen | Asmita Paranjape | July 1, 2026 | |
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Elle is avoiding Miles who is making advances towards her, Kimberly notices and writes “SLUT” on Elle’s locker. Meanwhile, her parents throw a housewarming party to impress the neighborhood, but Elle asks Dustin to be her date to Kimberly’s pool party instead to make her think he’s her boyfriend, in exchange for exposing Anderson, which she makes him promise to do so legally. Elle tries to befriend Liz, but she doesn’t understand why. At the party, Elle discovers Kimberly’s pool is not for swimming, making Elle’s bikini stand out, embarrassed, she calls Liz and admits that she likes her because she doesn’t care, so Liz shows up and convinces Elle to try not caring and she has a great time. Eva’s party is off to a poor start as everyone asks for things that she’d never put out, like beer and bread, but Wyatt saves it by entertaining. Eva also meets superintendent and mayoral candidate Dean Wilson. Dustin exposes Anderson’s actions to the party, as he doesn’t believe in lawyers, but Liz reveals to him about her situation and accepts Elle’s friendship. Elle unfortunately discovers that Miles is her neighbor. The next day, Elle, with Shannon, paint her locker pink. | |||||
| 4 | "I'm Not Afraid Of A Challenge" | Sammi Cohen | Julia Brownell | July 1, 2026 | |
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Elle becomes a finalist for an internship for a cosmetics company in LA that she had been applying to for months, her mom offers to help by making a video. Elle convinces the student council to throw a homecoming for the school’s cross country team, she had Kimberly set up a pep rally, but nobody shows up because Kimberly chose to use email to get the word out. Liz gives Dustin’s blessing to take down Anderson. Shannon convinces Elle to take command, but to do things the school’s way, while revealing that she broke up with Miles. The day of the race, homecoming goes perfectly, Liz confronts Dustin on his motivations regarding Elle, Dean offers Eva a position on his team, but she refuses due to her commitment to the video. Miles wins the race and later he has a moment with Elle, but her mom interrupts with the video, and Elle realizes that her mom is using Elle’s internship to go back to LA so she quits, preferring Seattle. Elle and Miles kiss, she enjoys it before she realizes what it means for Shannon. The next day, Liz tells Elle that Shannon’s mother died in a car crash. | |||||
| 5 | "Trust Me, I Can Handle Anything" | Pete Chatmon | Jen Regan | July 1, 2026 | |
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Shannon returns to school, and Elle and Miles agree to let Elle tell her about the kiss when the time is right. Elle offers to help Kimberly plan Robin’s memorial, but is surprised by Madison’s sudden arrival, so Elle navigates planning with Madison, leaving Madison feeling left out. Elle chooses the Rainforest Cafe as the venue and Kimberly thanks her. Wyatt helps Eva get used to Seattle, while revealing to Madison that Elle dropped out of the internship. At the memorial, Madison discovers Elle never mentioned her to her friends, she tries to get Elle to leave but she wants to help out, so she angrily questions Elle’s priorities, to which Elle admits that she’s starting to enjoy Seattle, so Madison leaves upset and kisses Dustin. Kimberly becomes drunk so Elle takes over the eulogy and gives a heartfelt speech before everyone laughs at the cafe’s animatronics. Miles then tells Shannon about the kiss, leaving her heartbroken, he tells Elle and she begs him not to say anything else, before Madison comforts her and they reconcile. The next day, Kimberly tells Elle that Shannon transferred to Denver, while Eva, now done with Seattle, secretly mails Elle’s application. | |||||
| 6 | "Whoever Said Orange Is The New Pink Was Seriously Disturbed" | Pete Chatmon | Chad Charlie | July 1, 2026 | |
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Elle discovers that Robin died because the intersection she crashed on doesn’t have a stop sign, and that the city had paid for one but Principal Anderson approved the paperwork without installing it. Elle and her friends discuss a way to expose Anderson for embezzlement, by breaking into the school’s account files and finding the receipts for the missing supplies, so they purposely get detention. The group, with Kimberly in tow, plan to steal Frank the custodian’s keys, they create a distraction, only for Anderson to take over as detention monitor. Elle distances from Miles, and points out a strained but budding connection between Kimberly and Liz. Eva reveals Elle’s plan to Dean while helping his campaign. Kimberly fakes a peanut allergy to distract Anderson while Miles runs to the records room and takes pictures of the fraud receipts as well as a photo of a woman wearing the orange coat with a girl. Elle activates the sprinklers to protect Miles, and takes the blame. The group concludes that the woman is Anderson’s mistress and the girl is their daughter. Meanwhile Donna is framed for stealing the embezzled money and arrested, and the group considers Donna has been blackmailing Anderson. | |||||
| 7 | "You Picked The Wrong Girl" | Stacie Passon | Caroline Dries | July 1, 2026 | |
| 8 | "What, Like It's Hard" | Stacie Passon | Laura Kittrell | July 1, 2026 | |
Production
Development
As a planned Legally Blonde 3 languished in development hell, in April 2023, it was announced that after acquiring MGM, Amazon had plans to expand the Legally Blonde franchise with a television series in development.[3]
On May 14, 2024, Amazon Prime Video announced a new upcoming prequel series, Elle with Laura Kittrell developing the series.[4][5][6] In a statement, Reese Witherspoon, who hosted the announcement, said that viewers "will get to know how Elle Woods navigated her world as a teenager with her distinct personality and ingenuity, in ways that only our beloved Elle could do."[4] The series is co-showrun and executive produced by Kittrell and Caroline Dries. Jason Moore directed the first two episodes of season one and serves as an executive producer. Reese Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter, Lauren Kisilevsky, Marc Platt and Amanda Brown, the author of Legally Blonde novel, also serve as executive producers.[7][8]
In January 2025, Witherspoon said in an interview that she was inspired to create the spinoff series after watching Netflix's Wednesday series starring Jenna Ortega. "I saw that Wednesday Addams show and I was like, 'Oh, she was in high school.' I loved it. I watched every episode. I thought it was amazing," Witherspoon said. "And I was like, 'We should do Elle Woods in high school because I wanted to see who she was before college, before law school. And I started having all these ideas and these amazing writers came up with a great pitch and now Amazon is making the show and it's called Elle."[8] In January 2026, the series was renewed for a second season.[7]
Casting
In February 2025, newcomer Lexi Minetree was cast as Elle Woods, who was originally portrayed by Witherspoon in the original films.[9]
In March, June Diane Raphael and Tom Everett Scott were cast as Elle's parents, Eva and Wyatt. In that same month Chandler Kinney, Gabrielle Policano and Jacob Moskovitz joined the cast as Kimberly, Liz, and Miles.[10][11][12] In April, Zac Looker, Jessica Belkin, Logan Shroyer, and Amy Pietz joined the cast as Dustin, Madison, Josh, and Donna.[13][14] In May, Lisa Yamada, Chloe Wepper, David Burtka, Brad Harder, Kayla Maisonet, and James Van Der Beek, in what would be his final role before his death, joined the cast in key recurring roles.[15][16] In February 2026, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan joined the cast for the second season as Sam.[17]
Filming
Principal photography began on April 2, 2025, in Vancouver, including in places such as Point Grey Secondary School and Granville Island and concluded on July 22, 2025.[18][19] Filming on the second season was completed in June 2026.[20]
Release
Elle premiered on July 1, 2026.[7]
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes holds a 55% approval rating based on 44 critic reviews, with an average of rated reviews of 5.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Lexi Minetree brings sparkle and excellent mimicry to rehashed proceedings in Elle, a mildly entertaining case study adhering to the confusing laws of prequel nostalgia."[21] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 52 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[22]
