Reese Witherspoon finds next Elle Woods for 'Legally Blonde' prequel

Reese Witherspoon has closed the auditions for the younger version of her character from the hit Legally Blonde franchise.

Witherspoon, who originally essayed the role of Woods in the 2001 comedy, announced Lexi Minetree as the younger cast on Thursday.

"Allow me to introduce you to the new Elle Woods!" Witherspoon wrote in an Instagram post. "After watching so many incredible auditions for the new Elle prequel series on @PrimeVideo, we finally found our Elle."

Witherspoon also included a video of the actress breaking the good news to her successor in person.

The clip showed Witherspoon greeting Minetree with a hug before telling her "We had to make a really hard decision the other day."

"We wanted to tell you in person because you've just worked really hard," Witherspoon continued. "And we just wanted to tell you that you don't have to audition anymore because you got the part. You're Elle Woods."

Witherspoon also exchanged a few words with the mother, telling her, "When I saw her tape I was like, 'Are we the same person?' This is so weird," Witherspoon added.

Minetree, who has appeared in various short films since 2016, starred in the 2023 Tubi film The Murdaugh Murders and scored a guest-starring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2024.

The news of the prequel came last spring when Amazon Prime Video confirmed to USA TODAY that a Legally Blonde series was in development with Witherspoon and her Hello Sunshine company (under Candle Media) producing the show alongside Gossip Girl creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage's production company Fake Empire and Amazon MGM Studios.

More details emerged in May 2024, revealing that the show would be a prequel series titled Elle.