James Van Der Beek's last performance will be seen posthumously in "Elle," Prime Video's prequel series to "Legally Blonde." The show honors the actor, who died in February at 48 after a battle with colorectal cancer.
Van Der Beek's character, Dean Wilson, makes his first appearance in the third episode of "Elle." As the episode concludes and before the credits roll, a title card appears onscreen reading, "In loving memory of James Van Der Beek."
"Elle," which is now streaming on Prime Video, follows the high school years of Reese Witherspoon's iconic character, Elle Woods. Witherspoon is a producer on the series, but the lead role is played by Lexi Underhay. Van Der Beek's character, Dean Wilson, is a local mayoral candidate who becomes friends with Elle's mother, Eva, portrayed by June Diane Raphael.
Jacob Moskovitz, one of Van Der Beek's co-stars on "Elle," recalled his time working with the actor. "We didn’t have a ton of overlap, but he sat and ate lunch with us and talked with us. And he was just an absolute light on our set, and we miss him very much," Moskovitz said. "We’re really honored that he was a part of the show."
Raphael shared that Van Der Beek frequently spoke about his family. "Anytime there was a downbeat on the set, he would share stories about his kids and how amazing they are and what they were going through, and I could just tell the kind of dad he was and also the kind of husband he was," Raphael told TV Insider. She added that when he spoke of his wife, Kimberly, whom he married in 2010, "You could tell they were so deeply in love still."
The actor had been battling stage 3 cancer since August 2023. Van Der Beek and his wife Kimberly had six children: Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and Jeremiah. Prior to his death, Van Der Beek had spoken about the financial challenges posed by his cancer treatment, leading him to sell memorabilia from "Dawson's Creek" and "Varsity Blues" to cover medical expenses.
Following his death, friends of Van Der Beek established a GoFundMe page for his family, which has since raised over $2 million from donations by celebrities including Zoe Saldaña, Derek Hough, Ricki Lake, and Kaley Cuoco.