James Van Der Beek cast in 'Legally Blonde' prequel 'Elle'
James Van Der Beek is joining the cast of the upcoming "Legally Blonde" prequel "Elle."
The "Dawson's Creek" actor's new role in the highly anticipated series was announced Thursday. According to Amazon, he will be playing the city's new mayoral candidate and current school district superintendent, Dean Wilson.
Van Der Beek, 48, took to Instagram to share his excitement over the news.
"So, this is exciting… I'm going back to work for a bit," he captioned a post. "Super excited to join this awesome cast in such a fun project."
He added, "Almost as excited as my wife and girls are that I'm doing this 😍."
The new role comes months after Van Der Beek announced he was diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer.
The actor first shared news of his diagnosis on Instagram in November. Van Der Beek said at the time that he first received the diagnosis in August 2023, adding that he was getting treatment and focusing on his health.
"I was honestly in shock," Van Der Beek recalled to "GMA" in December last year, speaking about his diagnosis. "I was doing what I thought I needed to do by getting a colonoscopy, which obviously, I did need to do."
"I was in amazing cardiovascular shape. I was eating what I thought was healthy, and I had a whole agenda for what I thought my year would be and what I thought my priorities would be in the next couple of weeks and months," he continued. "And the reality that all of that was going to change and take a different trajectory -- it felt like a nightmare, honestly, at first, that I couldn't quite wake up from. And yeah, it's a lot."
Van Der Beek will star in "Elle" alongside Lexi Minetree, June Diane Raphael, Tom Everett Scott, Gabrielle Policano, Jacob Moskovitz, Chandler Kinney and Zac Looker.
The upcoming prequel will follow Elle Woods (Minetree) in high school as we learn about the life experiences that shaped her into the iconic young woman we came to know and love in the first "Legally Blonde" film, according to a logline.
Laura Kittrell is the co-showrunner and executive producer on the series alongside Caroline Dries.
Reese Witherspoon, who played Elle Woods in "Legally Blonde" and "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde," is an executive producer.
"Elle" is slated to arrive on Prime Video next summer.
