Reese Witherspoon is reviving an old character for a new platform. Witherspoon is currently in the process of developing a pair of spinoff TV series inspired by the popular Legally Blonde film franchise at Amazon MGM Studios under her Hello Sunshine company, sources told Deadline. Among the offshoots, one is reportedly further along in the development process, which Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the developers and executive producers of Gossip Girl, are writing.
Aside from participating as executive producers for the project, whose premise is being kept under wraps, Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter with Hello Sunshine are also producing the film under the Fake Empire banner along with Marc Platt, the movie franchise producer from the Legally Blonde film franchise. Producing is Hello Sunshine, part of Candle Media; Fake Empire; and Amazon MGM Studios, reports Deadline.
According to the outlet, Amazon and Hello Sunshine are planning to expand the Legally Blonde TV universe with a potential second spinoff series. The series is still in the concept phase and early stages of development.
Last year, Legally Blonde was one of around a dozen titles from the MGM library identified for movie and/or TV development following the Hollywood studio's acquisition by Amazon. In the end, partnering with Witherspoon was the obvious move.
Based on the novel by Amanda Brown, the Legally Blonde movie franchise was launched in 2001 when the first movie, written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, was released. The film, which starred Witherspoon as Harvard Law student Elle Woods, became a pop culture sensation and launched Witherspoon into the limelight. It was followed in 2003 by the sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde and the 2009 direct-to-video spinoff Legally Blondes, which was originally intended to be a pilot for a TV series.
Legally Blonde 3, co-written by Mindy Kaling and Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-creator Dan Goor, has been developing for several years. While MGM had hoped to release the film in May 2022, Kaling said that year that the project was still in progress.
"I love this project. I am so excited about it. We are working on it," Kaling told Entertainment Tonight. "It is going, you know, a little more slowly than we like, but [it's] just because we really want it to be good." She continued, noting that Elle is "beloved" and that the team wants to make a film worthy of Witherspoon.
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