Reese Witherspoon drops major hint about Jennifer Coolidge’s role in Legally Blonde 3

Jennifer Coolidge rejoice: Reese Witherspoon has confirmed that the much-anticipated Legally Blonde 3 won’t go ahead without the iconic Paulette Bonafonté.

A third film in the beloved franchise was confirmed back in 2018, with Mindy Kaling coming on board as writer to explore how Elle Woods’ (Witherspoon) life had evolved twenty years on from the dramatic events of the second film.

Of course while we hope Elle is completely smashing it as a badass lawyer and taking down the patriarchy with every beautifully pedicured step, any further instalments in the franchise wouldn’t be complete without the one and only Jennifer Coolidge.

In the original films, Coolidge plays Paulette Bonafonté/Parcelle, the ditzy beautician with a heart of gold who helps Elle navigate the highs and lows of her love life – while making her own discoveries along the way.

As well as being responsible for creating one of the campest moments in cinematic history – the bend and snap – there is simply no Elle Woods without her right-hand woman.

Happily, Witherspoon is in agreement.

Speaking to ET at the recent Your Place or Mine premiere, the actor maintained that a new Legally Blonde film wouldn’t be the same with Coolidge.

“There is no Legally Blonde 3 without Jennifer Coolidge,” she enthused.

Witherspoon also reflected on Coolidge’s recent Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice award successes.

“I’m beyond myself about Jennifer Coolidge,” she explained. “She deserves every one of those flowers she is receiving right now.

“And she’s just one of those people who is so naturally gifted and funny and that you can just tell people love her, ’cause she gets up there and everybody’s like, ‘I love her,’ but she’s just done a lot of good work in our business for so long, that it’s really nice to see her getting this incredible moment.”

Will Jennifer Coolidge be in Legally Blonde 3?

Although there hasn’t been any official confirmation about Legally Blonde 3, which was originally expected to open early last year, it seems the pieces are slowly coming together.

Back in October, Coolidge told ET: “I know nothing, I mean I don’t know if they wanted to surprise me or something, ’cause I hear about it a lot.

“I heard that Mindy has this amazing version of our next round, but I haven’t seen it. I don’t have the call yet.”

However, she previously said that if she was asked to reprise the character she’ll “definitely be there”.

Meanwhile, Kaling herself has confirmed Coolidge’s character has been written into the script and she will “1,000 per cent return”.

“She is just someone who all writers would kill to write for,” Kaling said. “She is so funny. She elevates any material and she is just like… She can just do a glance, it is just hilarious.

“And so, as a writer, it’s the jackpot. Especially in that character. Paulette is so funny. 

“She [has] a very juicy story in this one. That’s all I can say, and by the way, Elle has a very juicy story. The two of them, seeing what they look like now, after 20 years, is really fun.”

In a more recent interview with E!, Coolidge was slightly more coy about whether she would be returning, simply saying “it’s happening”.

Paulette in pop culture

This is not the first time Coolidge has been interested in playing Paulette again. When Legally Blonde The Musical came to West End in 2011, she was asked to audition.

“I said to my agent, ‘What do you mean, audition? It’s not a straight offer?'” she told Variety, “My agent said, ‘I think they just want to see if you can sing and dance’. Look, if I got up onstage and farted, and that’s all I did, it would still be the lady from the movie!”

She added she was “still angry” about how the whole situation went down, and didn’t get to step on stage.

However, in 2019, pop star Ariana Grande gave the people what they wanted by bringing Coolidge’s iconic character back to life in her music video for “thank u, next”.