Keep on practicing your bend and snap. Legally Blonde 3 is still in the works. Reese Witherspoon is opening up about what’s going on with the third movie, which will be the latest sequel to the hit 2001 comedy Legally Blonde, which made over $141 million at the box office.
Legally Blonde made Reese a bonafide superstar. The legendary Elle Woods initially goes to Harvard Law School to get her boyfriend back, but she ends up finding herself and a passion for law in the process. Elle inspired a generation of women to take charge of their own lives and not let anyone tear them down.
Legally Blonde 3 was officially announced in 2018. Elle Woods stans have been waiting with bated breath ever since. From the release date to the latest update from Reese, HollywoodLife has all the details about Legally Blonde 3.
Legally Blonde 3 Cast & Crew
It wouldn’t be a Legally Blonde movie without Reese! Reese Witherspoon will reprise the role she made famous in the 2001 movie. By the time the third movie is released, it will have been almost 20 years since the Oscar winner last played the iconic character.
When the movie was confirmed, Reese had to celebrate the news herself. She posted an Instagram video of herself lounging on a pool float wearing Elle’s sequined hot pink bikini. “It’s true… #LegallyBlonde3,” she captioned the post. This is a reference to the video she sent to Harvard. She also re-wore the bikini in honor of the 20th anniversary in 2021.
As for other returning cast members from the original movies, you can likely expect Jennifer Coolidge, a.k.a. Paulette, to return. In October 2022, The White Lotus star revealed she hadn’t yet gotten a call about Legally Blonde 3. “I know nothing, I mean I don’t know if they wanted to surprise me or something, ’cause I hear about it a lot,” she told ET. “I heard that Mindy has this amazing version of our next round, but I haven’t seen it. I don’t have the call yet.”
Reese confirmed that when Legally Blonde 3 happens, Jennifer will return as Paulette. “There is no Legally Blonde 3 without Jennifer Coolidge,” Reese told ET in February 2023 at the premiere of her movie Your Place or Mine.
Elle and Emmett got married in Legally Blonde 2, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Luke Wilson popped up in the third movie. Luke gave an update in May 2020 about his possible role in Legally Blonde 3. “I have not talked to Reese about it, but yeah I always kind of hear rumors here and there,” Luke told Entertainment Tonight. “Never anything official about them doing another Legally Blonde, but I’d love to do another one. I mean, just that character Reese played was so funny at the time and that has kind of become this iconic character now.”
Unfortunately, the dog that played Elle’s beloved chihuahua Bruiser Woods passed away in 2016. “With a sad heart, I have to let all the #LegallyBlonde fans know that Bruiser Woods… passed away Yesterday. He was a sweet little Chihauahua who was very loved. I will never forget all the days we spent together … I’m sure his tail is wagging in the sky,” Reese revealed on Facebook.
Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor are set to write Legally Blonde 3. Mindy and Reese previously worked together on A Wrinkle in Time. Original producers Marc Platt and Adam Siegel are both working on Legally Blonde 3 as well. In addition to starring in the film, Reese will be producing the third movie through her production company Hello Sunshine.
What Is Legally Blonde 3 About?
The plot for Legally Blonde 3 has been kept top-secret. However, Mindy and Reese have given fans some tidbits about what to expect.
“Elle Woods is such an iconic character and so loved,” Mindy told Elle.com in November 2020. “Ordinarily, I think I would actually not find that really fun to do because the expectations are set. But because we haven’t seen the character in 18 years, I was excited. We know what Elle was like when she was 21, 22 years old. But what about when she’s 42? That character, so innocent and girly, what is she like when she’s dealing with adult problems and is an adult woman? She’s not a little girl anymore.”
In 2019, Reese revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that Legally Blonde 3 will be “so much fun. So full of fashion. So full of awesome feminist ideas. It will be global. It will have animals. It will have returning cast members. We just need to film it first. But that’s my hope and dream for Legally Blonde 3.”
Rest assured, you’ll be seeing the bend and snap again after 20 years. “Bend and snap is forever,” Mindy told Access in January 2021. “We definitely have a lot of fan favorites from the original movie.”
While promoting season 2 of The Morning Show, Reese revealed in September 2021 that there was still no script for Legally Blonde 3 yet. “Mindy [Kaling]’s busy. Mindy’s working hard on it,” Reese told Entertainment Tonight. “I know she is. And she and I just love each other. We have a great laugh just thinking about, ‘What would Elle Woods be doing right now?'” When asked how Elle may have changed in the last 20 years, Reese responded, “So many things have changed, but then some things are just so similar.”
The first Legally Blonde was released on July 13, 2001. The movie is based on Amanda Brown’s novel of the same name. Legally Blonde (and Reese) earned two Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy and Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Legally Blonde featured a number of iconic moments, especially in the second act of the film. Elle scores big at the major trial, freeing Brooke and exposing Chutney for killing her father. Elle used her haircare expertise to get Chutney’s confession. After getting her Juris Doctor degree at Harvard Law School and kicking Warner to the curb, Elle headed to Washington D.C. in Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.
The sequel was released in 2003 and also starred Sally Field, Bob Newhart, and Regina King. Elle sought to outlaw animal testing after discovering that the mother of her beloved pup Bruiser is being used by a cosmetics company to test products. Elle went to work for a congresswoman, who was ultimately working against her. With determination and ambition, Elle was able to bring Bruiser’s Bill to the floor of the House. After Elle and Emmett got married, the end of the sequel alluded to Elle possibly making it to the White House one day.
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde made over $124 million at the box office. A direct-to-DVD spinoff, Legally Blondes, was released in 2009. Reese did not reprise the role of Elle, but she did co-produce the film. Legally Blonde: The Musical premiered on Broadway in 2007.
Release Date & Production Details
As of right now, Legally Blonde 3 does not have a release date. “I’m still hoping that Legally Blonde 3 is gonna come together in the right way,” Reese told USA Today in July 2022. “It’s just like Top Gun. They waited a long time to make another version of that movie, and I loved the nostalgia piece they incorporated in it. So definitely that gave us a lot of inspiration about what we would want to do with Elle Woods and make sure that we had all those same touchstones that mattered to people [back] then.”
She added, “I feel like these characters are my friends, so I safeguard them. I would never make the subpar, mediocre version of their story.”
A release date of May 2022 was initially announced in October 2020 during a virtual Legally Blonde cast reunion in honor of the 20th anniversary of the original movie. The cast reunion featured Reese, Jennifer, Luke, Selma Blair, Jessica Cauffiel, Matthew Davis, Ali Larter, Holland Taylor, and Alanna Ubach.
To coincide with the Legally Blonde reunion, MGM Studios posted via Twitter: “Elle Woods is back! Legally Blonde 3 coming May 2022. We rest our case.” However, May 2022 has come and gone. Legally Blonde 3 has yet to start filming.
Elle Woods is back! Legally Blonde 3 coming May 2022. We rest our case. #LegallyBlonde3 #ElleWoods @ReeseW pic.twitter.com/WnxI1YEfqD
— MGM Studios (@mgmstudios) October 20, 2020
When Legally Blonde 3 was announced in 2018, the original writers of Legally Blonde, Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith and Karen McCullah, were set to write the movie. Two years later, Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor took over to put an “entirely new fresh spin” on the movie with a new script, Deadline reported.