Before there was Mean Girls, there was Cruel Intentions. 1999’s iconic film about the dangerous schemes of rich, spoiled high schoolers featured star-making turns by Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Selma Blair (“Secret Society!!!”) and Ryan Phillippe, not to mention the unforgettable sounds of The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony”. Twenty-five years later, Prime Video is bringing it back as a binge-worthy 8-episode miniseries arriving next month.
This new take on Cruel Intentions moves the drama from New York to the fictional elite Manchester College in Washington, DC. In the trailer, we see a familiar black car, hear an updated version of “Bittersweet Symphony”, and more callbacks to the original. The story once again follows a game of deception between ruthless step-siblings who rule the cutthroat social order.
Starring in Cruel Intentions are Sarah Catherine Hook, Zac Burgress, Savannah Lee Smith, Sara Silva, John Harlan Kim, Khobe Clarke, Sean Patrick Thomas and Brooke Lena Johnson. Sara Goodman and Phoebe Fisher act as showrunners, writers, and exec-producers.
SYNOPSIS: In this new adaptation, Cruel Intentions follows the elite students of Manchester College, a Washington, D.C.-adjacent university, where reputation means everything, fraternities and sororities are the gold standard, and two ruthless step-siblings, Caroline Merteuil and Lucien Belmont, will do anything to stay on top of the cutthroat social hierarchy. After a brutal hazing incident threatens the entire Greek Life system, they’ll do whatever is necessary to preserve their power and reputation – even if that means seducing Annie Grover, the daughter of the Vice President of the United States. Hearts will be broken, loyalties will be tested, and secrets will be revealed in this modern-day royal court that is Manchester College.
Now, Cruel Intentions die-hards, of which I am one, will recall that they already attempted a TV series. That would be Manchester Prep, a prequel that was instead repurposed into the sequel, Cruel Intentions 2, and is actually my favorite of the franchise. Another sequel very loosely connected to the prior films was released in 2004. In 2016, a sequel series pilot was filmed that would’ve brought back Gellar as Kathryn Merteuil, but it was never aired.
All eight episodes of Cruel Intentions hit Prime Video on November 21st.