“Legally Blonde 3”: All About the Potential Next Installment of Elle Woods' Story

From the returning cast members to potential plot lines, here’s everything to know about 'Legally Blonde 3'

Start practicing the bend and snap! Legally Blonde 3 is officially in the works.

In June 2018, Reese Witherspoon, who played the iconic Elle Woods in the first two Legally Blonde films, confirmed that she's reprising her role in a third installment of the beloved franchise.

"It's true," she captioned a video of herself wearing a pink sequin bikini while lounging on a blue pool float. Legally Blonde fans immediately recognized that Witherspoon was recreating Elle's Harvard video essay from the first movie, which premiered in 2001.

Roughly a year later, Witherspoon told Entertainment Tonight that she'd seen a version of the script but had yet to shoot anything.

"She's a very beloved character," she said. "You just want her to go on a hero's journey like she does in the first movie, and I'm having a great time working on it."

In April 2024, Deadline reported that a Legally Blonde spinoff series was being produced with Witherspoon's production company, Hello Sunshine, and Amazon MGM studios — no plot details were revealed.

From the returning cast members to script teasers, here's everything we know about Legally Blonde 3.

What is Legally Blonde 3 about?

While the basic plot hasn't been revealed yet, Mindy Kaling, whom Witherspoon tapped to write Legally Blonde 3, told Access Hollywood in 2021 that Elle Woods is now 40 years old.

"How Elle is at 40 versus how she was at 21 has been really fun to imagine," she said, adding that the "Bend and Snap" move will definitely make an appearance in the third film. "We have a lot of fan favorites from the original movie."

In July 2022, Witherspoon told USA Today that she's hoping Legally Blonde 3 "is gonna come together in the right way." She compared the budding film to Top Gun: Maverick — a sequel that premiered 36 years after the original movie.

"They waited a long time to make another version of that movie, and I loved the nostalgia piece they incorporated in it," the Sweet Home Alabama star said. "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."

Witherspoon concluded: "I feel like these characters are my friends, so I safeguard them. I would never make the subpar, mediocre version of their story."

How did Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde leave off?

Legally Blonde 2 brought Elle Woods to Washington, D.C., where she successfully convinced lawmakers to pass a bill banning animal testing for cosmetic products.

She later marries her longtime beau Emmett Richmond. In the final scene, Emmett asks Elle where she wants to live.

"Oh, I think I know just the place," she says while driving past the White House.

Who is in the cast?

Witherspoon isn't the only Legally Blonde alum reprising their role. Jennifer Coolidge, who played Paulette Parcelle, may be back.

"There is no Legally Blonde 3 without Jennifer Coolidge," the Big Little Lies star told Entertainment Tonight in February 2023.

Coolidge later responded to Witherspoon's comment in an interview with Extra. "Of course, I would be on board. I would love to do it," she said.

While it hasn't been confirmed, fans are hoping Elle Woods and Emmett Richmond, played by Luke Wilson, are still married in the third movie. "I'm always up to work with Reese again," Wilson told PEOPLE in June 2021.

As for Selma Blair, who played Elle's foe turned friend in the first film, she's hoping to "at least make a cameo" in the next installment.

"I'm hoping, hoping that that legacy can continue … because talk about the good things in life. That movie is one of the good things in life. It's a highlight," Blair said on the Shut Up Evan podcast.

In August 2022, while chatting with Extra, Kaling said she isn't opposed to writing a part for Witherspoon's daughter, Ava Phillippe.

"Listen, I think I can do anything, and if that's something she wanted to do, what a joy to have her in that," she shared.

When asked for an update on Legally Blonde 3 in June 2024, Wilson said that he hadn't "heard anything" yet.

"I talked to Reese a couple of years ago and some of the other cast members," he said during an appearance on the Today show. "I think everybody would be up for doing it. But Reese is such a sharp person and I think she just wants to make sure that the script is really good, if it gets done."

Who is writing Legally Blonde 3?

Witherspoon recruited actress Mindy Kaling and Emmy-winning comedy writer Dan Goor to co-write the upcoming rom-com.

"Elle Woods is so iconic, proving you can be girly and smart at the same time. Bend and snap people!" Kaling wrote on Instagram following the announcement in May 2020.

When will Legally Blonde 3 premiere?

MGM originally announced a release date of May 2022. However, the film is still in the script-writing stage.

Kaling addressed the delay in an interview with TIME in March 2022.

"We don't want to be responsible for ruining what's basically Reese's Avengers franchise," she told the outlet, adding that she and Goor have a lot to consider when it comes to writing a new Elle Woods story. "What is Elle Woods like at 42? Does she end up becoming all the things she wanted? How does that personality manifest in a grown woman? Has she become more cynical? Her brightness and her cheerfulness really worked when she was 22, but how has life changed her perspective on things?"

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