Omigod You Guys, Legally Blonde Almost Had Some Wild Alternate Endings
This upcoming week marks the 20th anniversary of a hot pink classic, Legally Blonde. The movie starring Reese Witherspoon is incredibly quotable, empowering and continues to be a ton of fun to revisit two decades later. At the end of it, Elle Woods memorably addresses Harvard’s graduating class as “Perfect Day” takes us into the credits. The graduation sequence was not the original plan for the final moments of the 2001 comedy. Brace yourself to bend and snap at these unexpected alternate endings.
The ending we see in the movie was decided following Legally Blonde being shown to test audiences and the previous one not playing as the writers had hoped. In the version we see, the movie remains centered on Elle Woods’ achievements in Harvard as she walks out the door of the university after telling her fellow graduates to have faith in oneself first instead of trying to please or serve other people. It perfectly encapsulates the character’s growth throughout the film. Now let’s talk about what might have been.
Alternate Ending 1: Elle And Vivian Get Super Close
In celebration of the movie’s anniversary, a number of cast members along with the film’s writers spoke with The New York Times about the making of the movie. While discussing the ending, actress Jessica Cauffiel, who plays Elle’s friend Margot remembered reading this:
The screenwriters deny writing this particular ending, but along with Cauffiel, Alanna Ubach, the last BFF in Elle’s trio Serena, also remembered the same scene being part of the script. However, one of Legally Blonde’s writers Karen McCullah did say this of an ending involving more Elle and Vivian goodness:
It definitely would have been an unexpected conclusion to the classic. Selma Blair’s Vivian is the new girlfriend Elle’s ex Warner has when she goes to Harvard. At first Elle and Vivian are basically enemies, but once they get to know each other, they become friendly. Elle Woods would have been a gay icon had this happened and this enemies to lovers scenario sounds right out of a Legally Blonde fan fiction, but I gotta say, I kind of dig it.
Alternate Ending 2: A Musical Number
Jessica Cauffiel also shared a second alternate ending that is almost too good to believe. Here’s what she said:
Hey, it was the early ‘00s, this absolutely could have been the ending to Legally Blonde. Especially now as the movie itself inspired a popular Broadway musical. But, let’s get into the last alternate ending that led the writers to land on the actual ending.
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Alternate Ending 3: Elle And Emmett’s Happily Ever
After McCullah’s screenwriting partner on Legally Blonde Meredith Scott Lynn opened up about the ending that made it close to the final cut before test audiences shot it down. In her words:
Legally Blonde was never a rom-com and audiences knew it. If the Elle and Emmett kiss was at the end it would have felt like one. Even though we love the budding romance between Elle and Luke Wilson’s character, it’s more about her personal journey of becoming a lawyer. It’s definitely interesting to see what could have been 20 years after Legally Blonde’s release as a third movie approaches. You can decide how you like the ending by streaming the movie over on Netflix now.
Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.