The iconic movie, Legally Blonde was released in 2001. It starred actors such as Selma Blair, Jennifer Coolidge, Luke Wilson and, of course, Reese Witherspoon as the lovable Elle Woods herself. This film was all about girl power and not judging a book by its cover and was just an all-around great movie both for laughs, but also to inspire the next generation of women to do what they dream of even if they don’t have the support system or belief that they can. The movie even spawned a musical of the same name that opened on Broadway in 2008 and has warranted a cult following by theatre kids all around. It’s touched many people and when the sequel came out in 2003, the message remained the same.
Now, more than twenty years later, there’s been talks of a third movie in the franchise. Back in 2018, Reese Witherspoon confirmed that she was in talks to reprise her role as Elle. In 2020, Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor were penned to write the screenplay and later that year a release date of May 2022 was announced. As it’s now passed May 2022, it’s obvious that date has changed, however there’s still hope for a third Legally Blonde movie, especially if Reese Witherspoon has anything to say about it.
With the release of Top Gun: Maverick and its huge box office success, Witherspoon regained hope and even found new ideas for Legally Blonde 3 by watching the sequel to the 80’s Tom Cruise film. In an interview with USA Today, Witherspoon spoke about her love of the first Legally Blonde and how she still holds it close to her heart,
I feel like these characters are my friends, so I safeguard them. I would never make the subpar, mediocre version of their story.
She went on to compare a potential Legally Blonde 3 to Top Gun: Maverick,
They waited a long time to make another version of that movie[Top Gun], 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.
Witherspoon claims that the success and nostalgia of Top Gun: Maverick has inspired ideas from the team behind Legally Blonde 3 for their own movie. They want it to be successful. They want it to be honest. Most importantly, they want it to send the same message the original did which is to never dull who you are just because you’re different. You can succeed in anything you want just by trying your hardest and being you. That’s something we need to see more of in today’s society and I can’t wait to see Legally Blonde 3 reiterate that message on the big screen.