5 TV Shows to Watch Next If You Loved Elle

Whether audiences were asking for a prequel to the 2001 favorite “Legally Blonde” is almost beside the point now: “Elle” has arrived. Developed by showrunners Laura Kittrell and Caroline Dries, the Amazon Prime Video series rewinds the clock six years before Reese Witherspoon’s Elle Woods becomes the pink-loving Delta Nu sorority president bound for Harvard Law. Instead of sunny, fictional California University Los Angeles — CULA, as Elle would say — the series finds a teenage Elle living in Seattle and navigating high school. She’s played by Lexi Minetree, a standout newcomer who channels enough of Witherspoon’s sparkle to make the connection instantly clear.

Over the course of its eight-episode first season, “Elle” can sometimes feel like a story we didn’t strictly need. Still, for anyone who has always wanted more time with one of pop culture’s most relentlessly charming heroines, the series offers an easy, breezy return to her world. It also helps enormously that June Diane Raphael, a veteran of comedy, film, and television, plays Elle’s mother Eva with such sharp warmth that she nearly justifies the show all on her own. Once you’ve made it through the debut season, though, there are plenty of other teen-centered comedy-dramas that tap into a similar spirit. From Amazon originals to CW throwbacks and Netflix favorites, these five shows are worth queuing up after “Elle.”

It isn’t hard to picture Elle Woods getting swept into a sun-drenched summer romance involving two brothers and a stunning beach house. That story, however, belongs to another Amazon Prime Video hit: “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” Adapted from Jenny Han’s bestselling book series, with Han also serving as showrunner, the series follows Isabel “Belly” Conklin, played by Lola Tung, during a pivotal summer in the fictional seaside town of Cousins Beach. Belly has spent nearly every summer there with her mother, Laurel Park (Jackie Chung), at the beach home of Laurel’s best friend, Susannah Fisher (Rachel Blanchard). The complication arrives in the form of Susannah’s sons, Conrad and Jeremiah, played by Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno, who suddenly begin seeing Belly as more than the girl they grew up with.

On paper, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” may sound like a glossy teen love triangle, but the series has more emotional texture than its premise suggests. It spends meaningful time with Belly’s insecurities, grief, ambition, and the messy process of growing up while everyone around her seems to have expectations of who she should become. By the third and final season, Isabel has headed to Paris in search of a fresh start, though the question of whether her heart still belongs to one of the Fisher brothers lingers. Warm, romantic, and highly bingeable, it is an ideal follow-up for viewers who like their teen dramas with both sweetness and stakes.

If “Elle” made you realize you enjoy watching iconic characters before they become iconic, “The Carrie Diaries” is an obvious next stop. The CW series serves as a prequel to “Sex and the City,” tracing the teenage years of Carrie Bradshaw, the role Sarah Jessica Parker famously played in the original HBO series, two films, and the sequel series “And Just Like That.” Here, AnnaSophia Robb plays Carrie as a 16-year-old in Connecticut, still far from her future as a Manhattan columnist but already dreaming of a life built around writing, fashion, and reinvention.

The series follows Carrie as she copes with the death of her mother while her father, Tom (Matt Letscher), tries to hold the family together and manage Carrie’s rebellious younger sister, Dorrit (Stefania LaVie Owen). Carrie’s world expands when she begins spending one day a week in New York City for a law firm internship, which eventually leads her to a job at Interview Magazine under the glamorous Larissa Loughlin (Freema Agyeman). Her ambitions become even more complicated when she falls for Sebastian Kydd, played by Austin Butler — yes, that Austin Butler. “The Carrie Diaries” lasted just two seasons and 26 episodes, but for fans of “Elle” and longtime “Sex and the City” devotees, it remains a polished and charming prequel worth revisiting.

For a sharper, more irreverent teen comedy with a deeply emotional core, “Never Have I Ever” should be near the top of your list. Created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, the Netflix series introduces Devi Vishwakumar, played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, as a brilliant, volatile, and deeply grieving 15-year-old. Devi is still reeling from the sudden death of her father, Mohan (Sendhil Ramamurthy, appearing in flashbacks), a trauma so overwhelming that she temporarily loses the ability to walk. With help from her therapist, Dr. Jamie Ryan, played by the always excellent Niecy Nash-Betts, Devi tries to regain some sense of normal life — though her version of normal includes a very determined plan to lose her virginity and reinvent her reputation at school.

Devi’s attempted glow-up unfolds alongside her best friends, the wonderfully nerdy Eleanor Wong (Ramona Young) and Fabiola Torres (Lee Rodriguez), as she navigates Sherman Oaks High, family pressure, and one of television’s most entertaining teen love triangles. On one side is her academic rival Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison); on the other is popular heartthrob Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet). At home, Devi is also trying to mend her strained relationship with her mother, Dr. Nalini Vishwakumar (Poorna Jagannathan). Adding to the show’s offbeat charm, John McEnroe narrates Devi’s inner life, with Gigi Hadid and Andy Samberg stepping in for Paxton and Ben’s perspectives. It is funny, heartfelt, chaotic, and exactly the kind of coming-of-age series that “Elle” fans may find irresistible.

Even though Amy Sherman-Palladino’s beloved drama series “Gilmore Girls” is technically a two-hander that splits its narrative between young mother Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and her precocious teen daughter Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel), the parts that do focus on Rory’s teen years definitely feel like they match up with “Elle” — especially because both shows depict young women with significant intellect. When “Gilmore Girls” kicks things off, Lorelai and Rory are thrilled to learn that Rory has been accepted to study at the prestigious Chilton Academy for the rest of high school; unfortunately, Lorelai, who works at a local inn, doesn’t have the money to cover the hefty tuition. After making a deal with her wealthy and judgmental parents Emily and Richard Gilmore (Kelly Bishop and the late, great Edward Herrmann) to spend Friday night dinners together as a foursome, Rory is able to attend Chilton thanks to their generosity, and Lorelai is begrudgingly reunited with her estranged family.

Across seven seasons and a revival, “Gilmore Girls” gives us an in-depth look at Rory’s struggles, victories, and perhaps most importantly, her love life — giving her three significant boyfriends who affect her life in various ways throughout the entire story. “Elle” might feature a woman from a significantly wealthy and privileged background, but at the end of the day, Elle Woods and Rory Gilmore have a lot in common … and since she’s a noted cinephile, it feels reasonable to say that Rory probably loves “Legally Blonde.”

Very loosely based on the best-selling young adult novel series by the sharp satirist Cecily von Ziegesar, the deliciously campy and wild teen drama “Gossip Girl” began its run on the CW in 2007 and began its story right as teen socialite Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) returns to Manhattan’s Upper East Side after a strange and conspicuous absence. As Serena’s friends — queen bee Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), Blair’s lifelong boyfriend Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), and bad boy Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) — try to figure out what happened and why she’s back, her longtime admirer Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) watches from afar, as does his social-climbing younger sister Jenny Humphrey (Taylor Momsen). (By “afar,” we mean the borough of Brooklyn, by the by.)

Serena’s reappearance in New York, though, is just the tip of the “Gossip Girl” iceberg. This show goes extremely off the rails in the best possible ways across its six seasons, whether Blair is marrying a prince, Serena gets a random job working for director David O. Russell, or Chuck is buying a hotel. (Dan also gets published in The New Yorker as a teenager, which might be the most unrealistic thing listed here.) Still, “Gossip Girl” is a total classic, and it feels reasonable to say that Blair, always armed with quips and bon mots to take down her enemies, would either befriend or spar with someone like a teenaged Elle Woods. Whatever you do, though, don’t bother with the spin-off series; it’s utterly lifeless compared to the wonderfully bonkers original, a show where Billy Baldwin shows up (and does what can only be described as an imitation of his brother Alec’s performance on “30 Rock”) as Serena’s wayward father.

“Elle” is streaming on Amazon Prime Video now.