Reese Witherspoon is turning Legally Blonde into a TV show? What, like it's hard?
The actress and her Hello Sunshine production company are in development on a TV spin-off series of her popular legal rom-coms, ET can confirm. Deadline was first to report on Thursday that Witherspoon, along with Gossip Girl executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, is looking to keep the franchise going on TV and/or streaming, though details of the project are being kept under wraps for now.
The original film, which became an enduring hit when it was released in 2001, has already spawned two follow-up movies -- 2003's Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, in which Witherspoon reprised her titular role as Elle Woods, and 2009's direct-to-DVD Legally Blondes -- as well as a popular Broadway show, in which Laura Bell Bundy originated the role of Elle.
A third film starring Witherspoon has long been in the works as well, with the latest iteration being developed by Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor -- however, Kaling said last fall that the project, like many others, had been delayed by the Writers Guild strike.
She also told ET in April 2022 that she and the Legally Blonde 3 creative team were taking their time writing, adamant about doing justice to the legacy of the beloved franchise.
"I love this project. I am so excited about it. We are working on it," Kaling said at the time. "It is going, you know, a little more slowly than we like but [it's] just because we really want it to be good. I think of it as like, Reese's Avengers. Elle Woods is like her Captain America, so you don't want to be the person that messes up that story. So for me, we are just taking our time because we want it to be really good."
Witherspoon has previously teased that her next version of Legally Blonde will be heavily focused on Elle's relationship with Jennifer Coolidge's iconic manicurist, Paulette Bonafonté.
"I'm beyond myself about Jennifer Coolidge," Witherspoon gushed. "She deserves every one of those flowers she is receiving right now. And she's just one of those people who is so naturally gifted and funny and that you can just tell people love her, 'cause she gets up there and everybody's like, 'I love her,' but she's just done a lot of good work in our business for so long, that it's really nice to see her getting this incredible moment."
"There is no Legally Blonde 3 without Jennifer Coolidge," Witherspoon maintained.
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