‘Elle’: June Diane Raphael Joins the Upcoming ‘Legally Blonde’ Prequel Series!!

Prime Video‘s Legally Blonde series now has its Mrs. Woods. June Diane Raphael will play Elle Woods’ mother, Ava, in the prequel series Elle. Deadline reports that the part will be greatly expanded from her role in the original films, making it one of the series’ lead roles.

Raphael will star opposite Lexi Minetree (Law and Order: Special Victims Unit), who was chosen to play the high-school-aged Elle Woods after an extensive talent search led by original star Reese Witherspoon, who is producing the new series. It will take place before the events of the films, in which sorority girl Elle Woods goes to law school and finds herself unexpectedly adept in the courtroom. Raphael previously appeared on another Witherspoon project, Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, in a recurring role. The role of Elle Woods’ mother in the original film and its sequel, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, was played by Tane McClure (Death Spa, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas); she appears briefly to attempt to talk Elle out of going to law school. In Elle, she is described as Elle’s role model, who is practical, polished, and perfect in every way. No other casting has been announced for the series.

Who Is June Diane Raphael?

A member of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy group, June Diane Raphael made her screen debut on a 2002 episode of the Tom Cavanagh sitcom Ed. She has recurred on a number of series, including Party Down, Black Monday, Based on a True Story, and Abbott Elementary, and starred on Netflix‘s Grace and Frankie as Brianna, the daughter of Grace (Jane Fonda). She is also a screenwriter; she penned the comedies Bride Wars and Ass Backwards, the latter of which she starred in with longtime best friend, Happy Endings‘ Casey Wilson. She is next set to star with Josh Brolin and Julia Garner in Barbarian director Zach Cregger‘s next horror movie, Weapons; she is also developing the Bewitched-inspired sitcom, Something Wicked, for NBC. She is one of the co-hosts of the podcast How Did This Get Made?, alongside husband Paul Scheer and Jason Mantzoukas, which riffs on bad movies.

Elle was created by Laura Kittrell (Insecure); she will serve as co-showrunner with Caroline Dries (Batwoman). They also executive produce with Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter of Hello Sunshine and Marc Platt, who produced both Legally Blonde films. Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect) is directing the first two episodes.