Reese Witherspoon has settled the debate over whether Prime’s Elle is canon to Legally Blonde

When Prime Video first announced Elle, a prequel series following Elle Woods as a teenager, plenty of Legally Blonde fans weren’t exactly sold on the idea. Many questioned whether a new backstory could ever fit with the original film, with some refusing to accept it as part of the franchise at all.

Well, Reese Witherspoon has now settled the debate.

The new series, which is now streaming on Prime Video, follows a 16-year-old Elle Woods before the events of Legally Blonde. Reese Witherspoon’s iconic role is now played by Lexi Minetree, who was personally chosen by Witherspoon herself.

Because the show explores Elle’s high school years, the writers inevitably had to flesh out parts of her life that audiences had never seen before, creating new storylines that could carry the series beyond a single season.

Speaking to TVLine, co-showrunner Caroline Dries explained that Witherspoon wasn’t just involved in the project: The whole idea started with her.

“It was Reese’s idea to do a show about Elle Woods in high school, so she entrusted [co-showrunner Laura Kittrell] to create the pilot, and she has embraced what we’ve come up with. So I would say, yes, it’s officially canon now.”

So despite fans arguing online over whether the new series should count as “real” Legally Blonde lore, Witherspoon has made her position pretty clear.

The writers also said they were careful not to contradict anything fans already know about Elle Woods. Instead, the goal was to expand her story without changing the character people already love.

“We were very aware of making sure everything tracked and also set up the movie perfectly,” co-showrunner Laura Kittrell said. “There was never anything we wanted to do that fought what people love about the movie, tonally, or even from a story place.”

Rather than rewriting Elle Woods, the team wanted to show where her trademark confidence came from, exploring the experiences that eventually shaped the woman audiences meet in Legally Blonde.

Witherspoon has stayed closely involved throughout the production as an executive producer, after not only pitching the original idea but also personally selecting Lexi Minetree to step into Elle’s iconic pink heels.

So if you were hoping to ignore Elle and pretend it exists in some alternate universe, Reese Witherspoon has bad news: As far as she’s’s concerned, this is officially part of Elle Woods’ story.

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Featured image credit: Netflix