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. Teaming up with Witherspoon was a natural step in exploiting the IP.
The first move in the
Legally Blonde
movie franchise, written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith 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 Schwartz’s 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 CAA and attorney Gretchen Rush. Witherspoon is also with LBI Entertainment.