Cruel Intentions Series Order Confirmed by Amazon; Additional Casting Announced
Prime Video‘s forthcoming Cruel Intentions adaptation has fleshed out its cast following the exits of two previously announced stars.
Savannah Lee Smith (Gossip Girl) and Khobe Clarke (Firefly Lane) have officially joined as series regulars, while Claire Forlani (CSI: NY), Nikki Crawford (9-1-1), Isabella Tagliati (Scuba) and Zeke Goodman (I Know What You Did Last Summer) are set to recur. Forlani is replacing Laura Benanti who exited the project in June. Myra Molloy is also no longer on the roster.
One actor from the original movie is returning: Sean Patrick Thomas (Gen-V), who played music teacher Ronald in the film version, will now play Professor Chadwick on the TV series. The main cast also includes Sarah Catherine Hook (First Kill), Zac Burgess (Totally Completely Fine), Brooke Lena Johnson (YOU), Sara Silva (The Boys) and John Harlan Kim (9-1-1).
This new iteration “takes place at an elite Washington, D.C. college, where two ruthless step-siblings will do anything to stay on top of the cutthroat social hierarchy,” reads its official description. “After a brutal hazing incident threatens the entire Panhellenic system at their school, they’ll do whatever is necessary to preserve their power and reputation, even if that means seducing the daughter of the vice president of the United States.”
“From the ’90s cult-classic film to the 18th-century novel from which it was adapted, Cruel Intentions has captivated audiences with a story that transcends time,” Head of AVOD Originals, Unscripted and Targeted Programming, Amazon MGM Studios Lauren Anderson said in a statement. “We are beyond thrilled to share the next chapter of Cruel Intentions‘ intriguing interplay of deception, wit and reckoning with Prime customers and couldn’t be more appreciative of the commitment, dedication, and talent from this entire team — our incredible cast, endlessly clever writers led by [Executive Producers] Phoebe [Fisher] and Sara [Goodman], our fantastic partners at Sony and Original Film, and the executives that led the way at Amazon MGM Studios.”
“We are so excited to get to work together to continue the legacy of Cruel Intentions, a film that remains beloved by so many — including us!” Goodman and Fisher said. “We promise to make this next iteration as fun, irreverent and boundary-pushing as the original, and are grateful to our partners at Original Film, Sony, and Amazon MGM Studios for trusting us to keep it Cruel.”
The show was originally ordered to series back in April, but it wasn’t the first time a Cruel Intentions series tried to get off the ground. In 2016, NBC ordered a pilot for a sequel series that would have taken place 16 years after the events of the film, with Sarah Michelle Gellar set to return as Kathryn. The pilot was ultimately not given a series order, and it failed to find a home elsewhere.
The OG film version of Cruel Intentions — which was based on the 18th-century novel Dangerous Liaisons — starred Gellar and Ryan Phillippe as step-siblings Kathryn Merteuil and Sebastian Valmont, who wagered on Sebastian’s ability to seduce Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon), the daughter of the headmaster at their elite New York City prep school.
Are you interested in watching this new Cruel Intentions story? Let us know in the comments.
So no connection to the original other than the name? No thanks…
Setting it in a college really undercuts a lot of what made Cruel Intentions so intense. I mean we have decades of college antics and cruelty and sex and drugs. What made the original story and film so startling was that they were middle aged and engaged with this kind of behavior, presumably having destroyed and toyed with people for years. It worked with teens in part because it actually had some consequences, unlike a lot of tv shows where here their behavior is fine and the next week we’re onto more betrayal and debauchery and whatever. This just feels like softening it.
Hard pass.
Also, this will be soft core porn, as were the OG cable/movie sequels and prequels. This will be good looking people nuding up and showing a lot of sex. The stars who’ve exited obviously weren’t OK with that, and the name stars still on board clearly are fine with (given where the respective careers of those two groups are, I get it).
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Ever since GOT inserted a lot of nudity and sex, the premium cable channels and streamers have been copying that format. Lots of nudity and sex and depraved behavior.
The 2016 pilot is on YouTube.
Oooo, thanks for pointing this out!!
The first attempt at a series was the Fox series Manchester Prep in 1999. It was supposed to be a prequel to the film starring Amy Adams in Sarah Michelle Gellar’s part.
It was cancelled before it aired and was re-edited into the straight-to-video Cruel Intentions 2.
There was talk of ongoing abuse in that writers’ room, unfortunately. Always glad to see crew and actors getting work though.
Why can’t they invest in new ideas?? Is that too much to ask for?
If SMG not there then neither am I.