Election Sequel Starring Reese Witherspoon Gets Positive Update from Director

Summary

• Election, the comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, is finally getting a sequel after 24 years.
• The sequel picks up years after the events of the original story, with Tracy now a substitute teacher and vice principal.
• Reese Witherspoon will also reprise another popular role in Legally Blonde 3, which is currently on hiatus due to the writers’ strike.

Twenty-four years have passed since the release of Election, the comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, and there is finally news about its sequel. Directed by and co-written by Alexander Payne, the film is based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta. The story follows Tracy Flick, an ambitious high school student who seeks to become the next student president, mounting an impressive election campaign. However, one of her teachers, Jim McAllister, does not like the idea of her being elected and decides to sabotage Tracy’s plans, which sparks a silent war that spreads to the entire school.

In 2022, Perrota published Tracy Flick Can’t Win, a novel that works as a sequel to the 1998 one, and its film adaptation was announced almost immediately. However, since that moment, no progress on the project had been shared. Until now.

In an interview with Collider, Payne confirmed that the sequel is now in development, although he has other projects to focus on before working on the long-awaited follow-up:

“Tom Perotta, who wrote the book Election, has written a very fine sequel, and Reese Witherspoon and I have talked about it. And Jim Taylor and I, my co-writer, have talked about doing it. But we just haven’t gotten to it yet. It’s only because everything takes a while, and I have a couple things to do before that. We’ll just see how it falls. It would be lovely to do.”

The second book focuses on Tracy again, years after the events of Election. After dropping out of law school to care for her sick mother and becoming a single mother after having an affair with a teacher, Tracy becomes a substitute teacher and eventually vice principal at her high school. Her ambition is awakened again when the possibility of competing for the main position arises, for which she will have to fight against a former football coach.

Related: Paul Giamatti and Alexander Payne Reunite in the First Trailer for The Holdovers

Reese Witherspoon Will Also Reprise Another of Her Most Popular Roles

MGM Distribution Co./20th Century Fox

Tracy Flick won’t be the only character Reese Witherspoon will play again in the coming years. The third part of one of the most popular stories in the filmography of The Morning Show’s star has also been in development for a long time. Elle Woods will have a new adventure in Legally Blonde 3, although there is still a long way to go before the film hits theaters.

In a recent appearance on the Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi podcast, screenwriter Mindy Kaling confirmed that they were working on the project before the writers’ strike, meaning it is now on hiatus:

“Obviously, now we sort of have pencils down because of the writer strike, but it’s had a couple of iterations over the past couple of years. And I think it’s a challenging project because of what makes it so great. Elle Woods is like Reese [Witherspoon’s] Avengers character and people feel so passionately about this. I’m just someone who’s coming in to co-write the third movie and even I see how excited people are.”

Witherspoon can currently be seen starring alongside Jennifer Aniston in The Morning Show on Apple TV+.

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