‘Elle’ Honors James Van Der Beek After Final Onscreen Role

Prime Video’s Elle took a moment during season one for a special dedication to the late James Van Der Beek.

The actor died in February after his battle with colorectal cancer, months before the Legally Blonde prequel series’ premiere in July. He was 48.

In Elle, Van Der Beek played Dean Wilson, the school district superintendent who was also running for mayor. (Spoiler Alert!) After befriending Elle’s mother, Eva Woods (June Diane Raphael), who helps him with his campaign, Elle Woods (Lexi Minetree) ultimately exposes his extortion scheme with Principal Anderson (Matt Oberg), leading to his arrest towards the end of season one.

After his first appearance in the third episode, titled “You’re Not the Girl I Thought You Were,” the series paid tribute to the actor with a title card ahead of the episode’s end credits. It read, “In loving memory of James Van Der Beek.”

After the actor’s wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, announced his death in February, Reese Witherspoon, who served as an executive producer on Elle, took to her Instagram Story to remember the Dawson’s Creek alum.

“Devastated to hear about James Van Der Beek,” she wrote at the time. “What an extraordinary, talented man who also showed great kindness and grace in every action. Praying all the angels watch over his family during this difficult time.”

In addition to Elle, Van Der Beek’s final film roles were in The Gates, which released in March, and Sidelined 2: Intercepted, which came out in Nov. 2025.

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As for the latter project, Noah Beck, who played the actor’s onscreen son in Sidelined 2 and Sidelined: The QB (2024), had nothing but positive words to say about his experience working with Van Der Beek while chatting with The Hollywood Reporter last year.

“I could sit and talk about how amazing James was to me for an hour if you have it,” Beck said, adding, “With James, he has such a presence to him, and you can’t not be present in a scene with him. I learned so much, and I’ve just felt like I had this front row seat to such an acting masterclass.”