EXCLUSIVE: Reese Witherspoon is revisiting one of the signature titles in her acting resume, taking it to a new medium. Witherspoon and her Hello Sunshine company are behind Legally Blonde spinoff TV series inspired by the popular film franchise that are in development at Amazon MGM Studios, sources tell Deadline.
One offshoot, which is further along in the development process, is being written by Gossip Girl developers/executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. The duo are executive producing the project, whose premise is being kept under wraps, via their Fake Empire banner, alongside Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter via Hello Sunshine as well the Legally Blonde movie franchise producer Marc Platt. Hello Sunshine, a part of Candle Media; Fake Empire; and Amazon MGM Studios are producing.
I hear Hello Sunshine and Amazon are looking to further expand the Legally Blonde TV universe with a potential second spinoff series, which is still in preliminary, idea stages.
As Deadline reported a year ago, Legally Blonde was among a dozen or so titles from the MGM library that were initially identified for film and/or TV development following Amazon’s acquisition of the venerable Hollywood studio.
The first move in the Legally Blonde movie franchise, based on the novel by Amanda Brown, debuted in 2001. Starring Witherspoon as Harvard Law student Elle Woods, it became a pop culture phenomenon and propelled Witherspoon to superstardom. Sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde followed in 2003 as well as 2009 direct-to-video spinoff Legally Blondes, which originated as a pilot for a potential series. Legally Blonde 3, co-written by Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor, has been in the works for several years.
Savage and Schwarz recent series include Nancy Drew, which aired for four seasons on The CW, Apple’s City On Fire, the Gossip Girl reboot on Max and the CW’s Dynasty. They are repped by WME.
At Amazon MGM Studios, Hello Sunshine recently produced the praised Prime Video limited series Daisy Jones & the Six. Witherspoon and the company are repped by LBI Entertainment.