Reese Witherspoon Just Introduced The New Elle Woods, Lexi Minetree

There’s a new Elle Woods in town. After an open casting call, the Legally Blonde prequel series has found its star in up-and-coming actor Lexi Minetree. Reese Witherspoon made the announcement on Feb. 13, and she introduced the new Elle lead with a wholesome video capturing the moment Minetree learned she got the part.

Introducing Young Elle

The prequel, Elle, follows the title character when she was “just a regular ’90s high school girl,” as Witherspoon put it in an Instagram post announcing the series in May. She and the team put out their casting call in September, and she told People on Jan. 29 that there were “so many good ones.” However, it was 23-year-old Minetree who stood out.

“Your audition tape was amazing,” Witherspoon told her, alongside a clip from her submission. In a brilliant callback to Elle’s Harvard admissions video, Minetree filmed some of it from a pool in a pink bikini.

Witherspoon made her sweat a little, keeping a straight face until she finally said, “You don’t have to audition anymore, because you got the part!” After celebrating with a hug, Minetree got to call her mom and share the moment with her, too. She even added an apt Legally Blonde quote: “Me!”

Elle marks Minetree’s biggest role to date. Her previous credits include parts in Lifetime’s The Paramedic Who Stalked Me and Tubi’s The Murdaugh Murders. She has also acted in several short films and an episode of Law & Order: SVU.

All About Elle

As Legally Blonde fans may remember, Elle grew up in Bel Air — across the street from Aaron Spelling — before going to college at the fictional California University Los Angeles. There, the bubbly sorority girl met and fell in love with Warner Huntington III (Matthew Davis), only to be dumped for not being “serious” enough. To win him back, she got into Harvard Law School, where Elle ended up discovering her true potential.

“Fans 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,” Witherspoon said in a statement when Prime Video announced the series.

Laura Kittrell created the series and will serve as showrunner. Witherspoon is executive producing alongside Lauren Kisilevsky, Marc Platt, and Hello Sunshine’s Lauren Neustadter. Amazon MGM Studios is producing.

Elle is set to begin production in March, as Witherspoon told People, and like fans, she’s “really excited.”