Becoming Elle, One Lesson at a Time

Read Time:7 Minute, 10 Second

TV SERIES REVIEW
Elle
TV-14 –

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Coming-of-Age
Year Released: 2026
Runtime: 8 episodes
Creator: Laura Kittrell
Showrunners: Laura Kittrell, Caroline Dries
Director: Jason Moore
Writer(s): Laura Kittrell
Cast: Lexi Minetree, June Diane Raphael, Tom Everett Scott, Gabrielle Policano, Jacob Moskovitz, Chandler Kinney, Zac Looker, Amy Pietz, Jessica Belkin, Danielle Chand, Lisa Yamada, James Van Der Beek
Where to Watch: premieres all 8 episodes on July 1, 2026, exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide

RAVING REVIEW: Hoku’s track “Perfect Day” has always felt inseparable from LEGALLY BLONDE, not just because it’s attached to one of the most recognizable openings of an era, but because it captures the fantasy of Elle Woods. The sun is out, the world feels open, and her confidence moves like it has a soundtrack of its own. That’s the shadow ELLE has to step into, and honestly, that made the series a little scary going in. A prequel to LEGALLY BLONDE (and its sequel) could’ve easily become a parade of easter eggs, a pink checklist of future traits, or a younger version trying too hard to make us forget Reese Witherspoon. Thankfully, Lexi Minetree’s portrayal doesn’t do that, and that’s why this works. She doesn’t erase Witherspoon’s Elle; she gives us the girl who could grow into her. ELLE is absolutely part of the same larger story. It also becomes its own story, finding room for high school ambiguity, family, heartbreak, and the early signs of a woman learning that being underestimated might someday become her greatest strength.

For a franchise built around the mistake of underestimating Elle Woods, ELLE has to deal with a different kind of skepticism. Prequels are often treated like unnecessary additions, especially when they’re built around a character whose appeal came from coming onto the scene swinging the first time audiences met her. LEGALLY BLONDE didn’t need a backstory to explain Elle’s confidence, kindness, or intelligence. She already had all three intact, then spent the rest of the movie proving everyone else was late to that realization.

The series had to make young Elle feel like a person worth following, not just someone with qualities that will eventually become iconic. At its best, Season 1 understands that assignment. It treats Elle Woods as a teenager still figuring out how much of herself the world will allow her to keep, and it finds real charm in watching her learn that fitting in may be less important than following her own instincts.

Set in 1995, ELLE follows Woods through high school, before Harvard Law School, and before the world around her learned to stop confusing pink with weakness. The series places her in a stretch of life filled with drama, tension, confusion, and the kind of fashion decisions that only feel embarrassing in hindsight. That framework could’ve turned into a simple teen version of a familiar brand. Creator Laura Kittrell and co-showrunner Caroline Dries mostly resist making the season feel like a novelty. The show knows people are coming because of LEGALLY BLONDE, then works to give them an actual coming-of-age story once they arrive.

Lexi Minetree has the hardest job here, and the season only works because she doesn’t play Elle like a Reese Witherspoon impression. The resemblance and tone are useful entry points, but Minetree builds her version around eagerness, emotional openness, and a spark of determination that hasn’t yet become certainty. She captures the sunny surface without reducing Elle’s optimism to emptiness. The entire franchise depends on the idea that Elle’s warmth isn’t a flaw she outgrows. It’s a strength other people misread.

The series is smart enough to let that warmth collide with insecurity. This Elle wants to be liked, wants to be understood, and sometimes wants the wrong people to validate her (yes, that’s a familiarity we see later; this is an evolution of what we eventually get). ELLE works best when it remembers that confidence usually isn’t born of a single moment. It’s built from humiliations, unexpected encouragement, bad choices, better choices, and the first few times someone realizes they don’t have to reduce themselves to make others comfortable.

June Diane Raphael brings humor and feeling to Eva, Elle’s mother, without turning her into a walking explanation for who Elle becomes. Their bond gives the show a softer interior, especially when the series moves away from school politics and lets Elle exist at home, where her personality doesn’t have to be translated. Tom Everett Scott also fits well as Wyatt, giving the Woods family dynamic enough warmth to support the show without pulling it away from Elle’s point of view.

Gabrielle Policano, Jacob Moskovitz, Chandler Kinney, Zac Looker, Amy Pietz, Jessica Belkin, Danielle Chand, Lisa Yamada, and the rest of the supporting cast help create a world that feels suitably messy. Some exist to challenge Elle, some to misunderstand her, and some to help position her closer to the woman audiences already know.

The 90s setting has the right kind of energy. The fashion is undeniable, the references are easy to read, and the production design gives the series a visual identity without making every scene feel like a costume party. There’s a danger in period teen shows where the era becomes the joke, and ELLE doesn’t completely avoid that. It usually keeps the focus on character rather than letting accessories do all the storytelling. The clothes matter because Elle uses style as expression, not camouflage. Even when she’s unsure of herself, she’s already translating herself in pink.

The series' success lies in understanding Elle Woods as a character. She’s not interesting because she loves fashion, or refuses to dim herself, though all of that is part of the package. She’s interesting because she looks at people and situations with an intelligence that others mistake for innocence. ELLE starts building that quality early, showing a young woman learning how to read a room, argue for herself, and trust that kindness doesn’t have to mean compliance.

That’s the reason the show feels so worthwhile. It doesn’t replace LEGALLY BLONDE or try to reverse-engineer every trait into an origin story. It gives Elle space to be young, wrong, funny, stubborn, hurt, and resilient. Minetree makes the role her own while respecting why audiences care in the first place, and the season’s best moments understand that the Elle Woods we know didn’t become the icon she is by being perfect.

ELLE is bright, affectionate, well-cast, and more emotionally grounded, and even more needed than its premise suggests. For longtime fans, it offers a charming look at a character before the world caught up to her. For new viewers, it works as a warm coming-of-age series about a teenage girl discovering that confidence isn’t about being understood by everyone. Sometimes it starts with believing you’re worth defending before anyone else knows how to make the case.

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