James
Van
Der

Beek
is
snapping
back
to
work.

The Dawson’s
Creek
alum
announced
that
he’s
joining
Prime
Video’s

upcoming

Legally
Blonde
prequel

Elle,
which
follows Reese
Witherspoon‘s
character
Elle
Woods
(who
will
be
played
by

Lexi
Minetree)
in
her
high
school
years.

He’ll
play
recurring
character
Dean
Wilson,
the
school
district
superintendent
and
the
town’s
new
mayoral
candidate.

James—who
shares
kids


Olivia,
14, Joshua,
13, Annabel,
11, Emilia,
8, Gwendolyn,
6, Jeremiah,
2,
with
wife

Kimberly
Van
Der
Beek—announced
the
news
in
the
wake
of
his

his
battle
with
stage
3
colorectal
cancer.

“So,
this
is
exciting…
I’m
going
back
to
work
for
a
bit,”
the
48-year-old

captioned
a
screenshot
of
an
article
about
the
news
on
Instagram
May
15. “Super
excited
to
join
this
awesome
cast
in
such
a
fun
project.
Almost
as
excited
as
my
wife
and
girls
are
that
I’m
doing
this.”

This
isn’t
the
first
time
that
James
has
returned
to
work
since
sharing
his
diagnosis,
which
he’d
received
the
previous
August,
back
in
November.
The

Varsity
Blues
actor
appeared
on The
Masked
Singer
as
the
Griffin
back
in
March,
after
which
he

provided
an
update
on
his
cancer
battle.