After nearly two years since we last heard an update on MGM’s highly-anticipated Legally Blonde 3 (which was supposed to debut earlier this year), Deadline now brings word that Emmy Award-winning writer-actress Mindy Kaling (The Office, The Mindy Project) and Dan Goor (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) have officially signed on to co-write the screenplay for the long-in development Reese Witherspoon-led third installment. This marks Witherspoon and Goor’s second collaboration with Kaling, whom they’ve each worked with on Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time and Universal’s upcoming untitled wedding comedy film, respectively.
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The plot details are currently unknown, but Legally Blonde 3 was previously described to be in the spirit of the first film, with the intention to make this “more about female empowerment, a message that hits at a fortuitous time in the culture.” The minds behind the project are hoping to draw back the audience that fell in love with the original film as well as finding a new global audience that will embrace Elle Woods and the film’s message.
The film will see the return of Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon to reprise her iconic role as Elle Woods. Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith and Karen McCullah (10 Things I Hate About You) were previously attached to write the script. However, the outlet notes that Kaling and Goor’s version won’t be a rewrite of Smith and McCullah’s first script but will instead have an entirely new fresh spin on the story.
Legally Blonde 3 will be produced by Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter through their Hello Sunshine banner along with Platt Productions’ Adam Siegel and original producer Marc Platt.
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Legally Blonde debuted 17 years ago and told the story of Elle Woods, a fashionable sorority queen who is dumped by her boyfriend. She decides to follow him to law school and while she is there figures out that there is more to her than just her looks. In the 2003 sequel, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, Woods heads to Washington D.C. to join the staff of a congresswoman in order to pass a bill to ban animal testing. The original movie grossed $141 million worldwide on an $18 million budget, with the sequel earning $124 million off of a $45 million budget.
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