Reese Witherspoon Says There’s No Legally Blonde 3 Without Jennifer Coolidge

The most iconic manicurist of our generation will do the bend-and-snap once again. Reese Witherspoon confirmed that Jennifer Coolidge will return for the long-awaited third Legally Blonde movie, reprising her lovable character Paulette Bonafonté. As she told Entertainment Tonight on Feb. 2, “There is no Legally Blonde 3 without Jennifer Coolidge.”

After months of saying that she had no clue about the status of Legally Blonde 3, someone finally told Coolidge that her return is wanted. In a Feb. 4 interview, Extra told the actor about Witherspoon’s remarks and she responded by basically saying it’s about time. “Of course, I would be on board,” she said. “I’ve been hearing about it for a long time. Maybe it really is happening at this point. I would absolutely love to do Legally Blonde 3.”

The Your Place or Mine star continued to gush about Coolidge, saying how proud she was of her co-star winning an Emmy and Golden Globe for The White Lotus and garnering newfound respect from the industry. “She deserves every one of those flowers she is receiving right now,” Witherspoon said. “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.”

Legally Blonde 3 was initially confirmed in May 2018, with Witherspoon announcing the movie as Elle Woods on a pool float. Later, it was confirmed that her A Wrinkle In Time co-star Mindy Kaling would be writing the script. In October 2020, MGM announced that the premiere was set for May 2022, which has long come and gone. While she’s acknowledged that it’s taking a long time, Kaling has promised that the script is coming along, even without a new release date.

In October, Coolidge told ET that she hasn’t received a call from anyone about the movie. “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 said. That said, she wants to return if only to give viewers new inspiration so they’d stop making hot dog jokes on the Fourth of July. “Men, women, these TikTokers, and then lots of drag queens send me these funny videos and do these weird things with the vegan hot dogs,” she explained on SiriusXM in August. “I’m gonna have to insist to Reese that we make it this year because I’m not gonna make it. I can’t do it next year. I can’t. I need new material.” So do we, Coolidge.