Reese Witherspoon Reveals Jenna Ortega's “Wednesday” Inspired the“ Legally Blonde ”Prequel Series

Reese Witherspoon found inspiration for the new Legally Blonde series in the most unlikely of places.

The actress, 48, who originated the iconic character Elle Woods in the 2001 film, stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, Jan. 29, and revealed how the idea came to her to produce a prequel series about the lawyer's high school years.

"It was kind of this idea ... I saw that Wednesday Addams show, you know, and I was like, 'Oh!'" Witherspoon told host Jimmy Fallon of the Netflix series starring Jenna Ortega. "She was in high school. I loved it, I watched every episode, I thought it was amazing. And I was like, 'We should do Elle Woods in high school!'"

Related: Jenna Ortega Appears in Dark First Glimpse at Wednesday Season 2 — Watch!

Once the idea was in her head, the actress said she realized she "wanted to see who [Elle Woods] was before college, before law school, and I started having all these ideas."

"And these amazing writers came up with a great pitch and now Amazon is making the show and it's called Elle," she says.

The series, which was announced in May, will explore "how Elle Woods navigated her world as a teenager with her distinct personality and ingenuity, in ways that only our beloved Elle could do," Witherspoon said at the time.

In this week's issue, Witherspoon, whose new film with Will Ferrell, You're Cordially Invited, premieres Jan. 30, told PEOPLE that filming for the prequel series will "start in March."

"I'm really excited because we're going through the casting process right now and we're picking who is going to play the young me. It's kind of a trip," she said.

“It's so exciting too, to watch these young girls that are so filled with enthusiasm and excitement," she continued. "There's so many good ones. That's the hard thing, because there's so many good people to choose from."

Related: Luke Wilson Says Reese Witherspoon Inspired Him to Bring His A-Game to Legally Blonde (Exclusive)

In September, she initiated a nationwide casting call as she posted a video on Instagram, encouraging young actresses to apply as the "search for the high school version of Elle Woods is officially ON! 💖 ✨ ."

"I'm SO excited to see all your fabulous takes on everyone’s favorite Gemini vegetarian! 💕👛🌟🎀," she wrote in the caption.

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Along with the prequel series, Witherspoon was previously confirmed to reprise Elle Woods once more in a third film, which Mindy Kaling was tapped to write. The project's fate is unclear, though, as the last update came in June when Luke Wilson said he hadn't "heard anything" about the film.

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