“Cruel Intentions” Announces Final Cast, Confirms Series Order on Prime Video

After two years in development and a lot of cast change-ups and a strike-delayed filming schedule, the final cast and full series order has been announced for the Cruel Intentions TV show, based on the iconic ’90s movie in which Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair kissed on the grass and I gasped in my seat at the shopping mall movie theater in Northern Michigan where I saw the film on opening weekend.

First Kill’s Sarah Catherine Hook will star as Caroline Merteuil, “the queen of everything – or at least the queen of Delta Phi,” and Sara Silva plays her right hand, CeCe. I think that Savannah Lee Smith (“Gossip Girl”) will be playing the role of “Annie, a model student, respectable young woman and daughter of the Vice President of the U.S.”

Sarah Catherine Hook practicing for the Cruel Intentions TV show

Other stars include Khobe Clarke (“Firefly Lane,” “Yellowjackets”), John Harlan Kim (“The Last Thing He Told Me,” “9-1-1”), Brooke Lena Johnson (“You”), and Sean Patrick Thomas (“Till”). Claire Forlani will be playing a recurring role, replacing the previously cast Laura Benanti.

The show was set to begin filming in June in Toronto, but was delayed by the Actors’ Strike, and is now returning to Toronto in late January.

The new show is described to take 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.” Furthermore: “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.”

Sarah Goodman and Rachel Fisher, who signed on to the project in 2021, remain at the helm. Goodman also wrote and executive produced I Know What You Did Last Summer for Prime Video, which was very queer and although I personally enjoyed it, most people did not!

The original Cruel Intentions, inspired by  Les Liaisons dangereuses, has a special place in the heart of the queer community — Demi Lovato said it made her realize she was queer, and many have argued it was queerer than it seemed while others have noted that the film punished people for homosexuality. I personally just happened to adore it, so!

An 2016 attempt at creating a television series based on the film, which did include Sarah Michelle Gellar in its cast, does have an unaired pilot that has made it into the public eye. Twitter was especially excited about a clip in which Sarah Michelle Gellar seduces Carmen (Nathalie Kelley).

Our hope is that the 2023 edition of this project will deliver similar bisexual energy or just queer stuff in general. It has to right??

(Also, SMG perhaps has cruel Queer Intentions Fan Art in her home.)

Other Pop Culture Stories For Your Day:

+ XYZ Films has acquired U.S. and Australia/NZ rights to distribute D.W. Waterson’s cheerleading drama Backspot, which Drew named as one of the Best Queer Sports Movies of all time. It’s a very queer production, starring Devery Jacobs and Evan Rachel Wood and produced by Elliot Page. “This is an excellent film about a young athlete his is an excellent film about a young athlete pushing her body, her mind and her personal life to the limits” writes Drew, “and should be in any future conversations of the best queer sports movies.”

+ ‘Glee’ Alums Help Finish Late Actress Naya Rivera’s ‘Prayer for the Broken’ Song 3 Years After Her Death

+ Da Brat talks to Out Magazine about beating the odds by having a baby at the age of 49 after fibroids and polyps surgery and a miscarriage.

+ ‘If You Don’t Leave Blood On The Track, Why Even Do It?’ Tegan and Sara Quin Open Up

+ Marvel’s Most Iconic Queer Couple Just Made History (Changing X-Men Lore Forever)

+ Suranne Jones promises her fans: “My next few characters aren’t lesbians, but I’ll be back with more’”

+ Ariana DeBose is an astronaut at war in trailer for space-set thriller I.S.S.

+ Saltburn will debut on Prime Video before Christmas

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