Reese Witherspoon Returning for 'Election' Sequel 'Tracy Flick Can't Win for Paramount+, Alexander Payne Returning to Direct

 

by Darian Scalamoni

    Election was a film that not only left a cultural footprint on indie filmmaking, but it also put Alexander Payne (The Descendants, Nebraska) on the map and was the first major lead role for Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde, Wild). Now, her iconic and unforgettable character, Tracy Flick is returning to screens but this time for a streaming service. 

    According to multiple outlets, Witherspoon will return as the high achieving go-getter in the sequel film, Tracy Flick Can't Win based on the 2022 novel of the same name for Paramount+. The film will see Payne return to direct with a story that places the titular character as a diligent assistant principal of a public high school in suburban New Jersey still struggling to find her way to the upper echelons of academia and the public school system while still embodying her type-A self. Election was a high school-set film released in 1999 that earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay catapulting Witherspoon to stardom. 

    Witherspoon will produce the film under her flourishing Hello, Sunshine banner. She will next appear in the third season of the AppleTV+ series, The Morning Show alongside Jennifer Aniston as well as the romantic comedy, Your Place or Mine with Ashton Kutcher. 

    Payne is currently filming The Holdovers starring Paul Giamatti which plays as a Breakfast Club-esque movie set during the holidays. The Holdovers marks another reuniting for Payne as he re-teams with Giamatti who starred in his film, Sideways.