Legally Blonde 3 could still be fast-becoming a reality. The news was a breath of fresh air after what felt like a long production wait, but we were just glad we were one step closer to seeing Elle Woods return. However, more recently there has been no updates on the films release, which worried fans. Just as we were starting to loose hope on the return of our favourite law school graduate, Reese Witherspoon has confirmed that she is still on board!
Reese Witherspoon recently told USA today, ‘I’m still hoping that Legally Blonde 3 is gonna come together in the right way' she said. '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 expressed her desire to get the story right, 'I feel like these characters are my friends, so I safeguard them. I would never make the subpar, mediocre version of their story.'
This much anticipated remake has been years in the making. In 2016, Reese said she would definitely be up for bringing back Elle Woods. 'Yeah, yeah I would [do it]!' she said. 'I think it'd be kind of cool to see her 15 years later, like what's she doing now? What do you think? I don't know. But I need a good idea.'
In 2018, MGM completed final talks with Reese and hugely successful production company Hello Sunshine. They are responsible for award-winning hits such as Gone Girl and Big Little Lies. Witherspoon also confirmed back in 2018 that was in talks to return as Elle Woods for Legally Blonde 3. Two years later, Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor signed on to pen the script, and later that year, MGM posted a message to its official Twitter page announcing a May 2022 release date. That, of course, has come and gone without the release of the third film, so the project currently doesn’t have a scheduled date for its release.
There are still high hopes for the film, with fans eager to see Elle maintain her optimistic-against-all-odds life attitude. In the current climate of women's empowerment in Hollywood, and Reese's instrumental role within that, we can imagine that the film will centre on this theme.
It's clear that Reese has been mulling over where Elle Woods' life would have ended up 15 years after she graduated from Harvard. 'She could be a Supreme Court justice,' she mused. 'Or she could be like a really great powerful attorney, or she could be in prison. She could be anything! I don't know.'
It's no wonder that Reese is keen to revisit the character. She considers it one of her favourites in her impressive career. ‘[Picking a favorite movie] is like picking your favourite kid,’ she admitted a few years back. ‘But...I loved making Legally Blonde, because I love pink. It was really fun. I got to wear all the amazing costumes. I also got to work with a dog every day...I'm obsessed with dogs.’
Now that Reese has confirmed that she still has an interest in Legally Blonde 3 perhaps all hope is not lost after all. Elle for President!