Wilson made a surprise appearance as his character from the beloved Reese Witherspoon-led rom-com franchise in the show’s special Halloween episode
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Savannah Guthrie and Luke Wilson as Elle Woods and Emmett Richmond Legally blonde (2001) on the Today show October 31, 2024
Luke Wilson steps back into the world of Legally blonde!
The actor, 53, made a surprise appearance at the Halloween delivery of the Todayshow on Thursday, October 31, where he reprized his role as Emmett Richmond from the beloved rom-com franchise, opposite Savannah Guthrie as Elle Woods.
Recreate the famous scene where Emmett first meets Elle (famously played in the 2001 film and its 2003 sequel by Reese Witherspoon), Guthrie, 52, came out in the signature pink courtroom costume of the sorority girl turned Harvard law student, complete with a stuffed Bruiser the dog.
“You have Stromwell, right?” Wilson, like Emmett, asked a stressed Elle and then said, just like in the movie, “She made me cry once.” I mean, not in class – I waited until I got back to my room. But yeah, she’ll take you right into the…
“Oh, would you like some nuts?” Guthrie joked as she pulled out a bag of salty snacks.
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Savannah Guthrie and Luke Wilson as Elle Woods and Emmett Richmond Legally blonde (2001) on the Today show October 31, 2024
Related: Reese Witherspoon reminisces about Halloweens past with her iconic bunny costume from ‘Legally Blonde’
After reciting more lines from the scene — and highlighting Elle’s rose-scented resume (“I think it adds a little something extra, doesn’t it?” Guthrie said) — the anchor was impersonated perfectly. Witherspoon’s famous “bend and snap” go by the first movie.
“Always works,” she said, before the two pretended to leave to have coffee together.
Later in the episode, Guthrie and her co-hosts – who, as usual, went all out for the holidays, dressed as characters from iconic films like Beetle juice, Titanic, Just apply it, Mrs. Doubtfire, Austin powers, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron BurgundyAnd Beverly Hills copfor this year’s theme “VHS Rewind” – spoke with Wilson about the future of the Legally blonde universe.
After revealing to Guthrie and Hoda Kotb that he was ‘nervous’ about reprising his role in the show and joked that this was ‘the closest thing to Broadway’, the actor admitted that the lines ‘didn’t come back to him as easily’ as you might think – and also praised how “committed” Witherspoon, 48, was to playing Elle in the films.
Plus, he gave Guthrie kudos for her bend-and-click move: “The form was perfect.”
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Related: Luke Wilson says Reese Witherspoon inspired him to bring his A-Game Legally blonde (Exclusive)
Asked for an update on Legally blonde 3 and whether he will be there, Wilson told Guthrie and Kotb, 60, “Well, I hope he is. It would be a lot of fun to do.”
“You just never know. But I bet it will happen at some point while Reese and I can still do it,” he continued, adding of their on-air recreation, “And this should be very inspiring for Reese!”
Peeler confirmed that she is reprising her role of Elle in a third installment of the beloved franchise in June 2018. About a year later, she shared Entertainment tonight that she had seen a version of the script, but had not recorded anything yet.
For now is one Legally blonde spin-off seriestitled Elle, is produced by Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine and Amazon MGM Studios. The actress and producer even released one casting call for a high school version of Elle Woods for last month’s show.
As for a third film, “I talked to Reese and some of the other cast members a few years ago,” Wilson told Guthrie on television. Today shown earlier this year. ‘I think everyone would like to do it. But Reese is such a sharp person and I think she just wants to make sure the script is really good when it’s done.”