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 Lexi 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.
