An open casting call. A virtually unknown actress selected to lead a coming-of-age streaming TV show executive produced by an ambitious veteran actress-turned-producer with a strong personal connection to the IP.
That’s what Maitreyi Ramikrishnan went through when the Canadian actress was chosen among many to lead the Mindy Kaling-executive produced, semi-autobiographical Netflix comedy Never Have I Ever. But the same could also be said about Lexi Minetree, the Atlanta native who was selected from roughly 5,000 audition tapes, again via an open search, to play the star of the Reese Witherspoon executive-produced Legally Blonde prequel, Elle.
Now, three years after the end of Never Have I Ever, Ramakrishnan is going back to the world of teen shows to play the nemesis to Minetree’s Elle Woods in the already renewed (and already filmed) season two of Elle.
Though Ramakrishnan’s role might seem like she’s starring in yet another high school series after Never Have I Ever‘s four-season run, she teases that her addition to the Legally Blonde universe is different.
“Without spoiling too much, I like my character’s dynamic in the gang because it’s not something I’ve done before,” Ramakrishnan told The Hollywood Reporter at the recent Elle premiere in New York.
Ramakrishnan’s character, Sam, has been described as “possessing all our hero’s ambition and none of her optimism. She’s the founder, editor-in-chief and lord baron of the school newspaper, the commissioner of the grammar police and the enemy of joy,” the description continues. “If Cosmo is Elle’s bible, the AP Stylebook is Sam’s holy grail.”
Speaking about what drew her to the role, Ramakrishnan mentioned the “iconic” world of Legally Blonde and called Witherspoon a “legend.”
Having worked with Witherspoon on the already filmed second season of Elle and Kaling on Never Have I Ever, Ramakrishnan also shared her thoughts on how the actresses-turned-powerhouse-producers, aiming to improve representation onscreen, are similar.
“The biggest thing they have in common, I would say, is that they are both women with audacity, and that’s why I think they hire women with audacity as well,” she said. “Meeting Lexi is such a joy because she works so hard. She’s just amazing. Game recognizes game, and I think Mindy knew what she did casting me, and Reese knew what she did casting Lexi Minetree.”
Ramakrishnan described both Kaling and Witherspoon as “hard-working women who want to tell good stories.”
All eight episodes of Elle‘s first season are streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video.
