Mindy Kaling has explained why Legally Blonde 3 still hasn't arrived.
Reese Witherspoon committed to Legally Blonde 3 back in 2018. After she signed on to play Elle Woods once again, Reese personally asked Mindy Kaling to write the script. The Office star has been working on the screenplay with her co-writer, Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-creator Dan Goor.
The film was originally slated for a spring 2022 release, but it has since been delayed indefinitely. Whilst speaking to TIME, The Office star explained that the reason it was proving quite so difficult to get Legally Blonde 3 off the ground was that they wanted to stay true to the spirit of the previous two movies.
"We don't want to be responsible for ruining what's basically Reese's Avengers franchise", Mindy said.
She went on to tease the kinds of things we should expect to see in the upcoming movie. "What is Elle Woods like at 42? Does she end up becoming all the things she wanted? How does that personality manifest in a grown woman? Has she become more cynical? Her brightness and her cheerfulness really worked when she was 22, but how has life changed her perspective on things?"
Mindy also suggested that the reason she and Dan Goor were being so careful was because of how challenging it can be to update iconic characters from the early 2000s in 2022, and pointed to the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That as an example of that difficulty.
"The hardest thing about this project is trying to figure that out in an authentic way,” she said. “Honestly, watching And Just Like That, and how they took a character from 18 years ago, and how the character was now — we want to make sure that Elle Woods is not paying penance for existing in the year 2022.
"We're not afraid of the character in this world, and we don't feel we have to apologize for her. As a fan, I didn't want to watch her be canceled or become a Karen. So the character is just fun. That's what's been interesting and challenging em and why it's taking us such a long time to write", she concluded.
Legally Blonde 3 does not currently have a release date. In the meantime, check out our guide to the biggest new movies in 2022 to find out what other films you can look forward to seeing this year.
