Note: The following story contains spoilers from “Cruel Intentions” Season 1, Episode 8.
The stars of “Cruel Intentions” were encouraged to bring a “fresh take” to the beloved characters in Prime Video’s TV adaptation — which was pretty easy for Zac Burgess and Savannah Lee Smith, who had never seen the 1999 classic.
“I haven’t seen the film — it was more of a creative choice, because I didn’t want to necessarily mimic anything,” Burgess told TheWrap, with Smith echoing her costar, saying “I actually didn’t watch the original prior to filming because I didn’t want too much influence — I wanted to create Annie in a new way and look at it with fresh eyes, because it is a reimagining.”
While Burgess and Smith didn’t have the portrayals of Ryan Phillippe’s Sebastian Valmont — whose character is adapted to Burgess’ Lucien Belmont — nor Reese Witherspoon’s Annette Hargrove — a character developed into Smith’s Annie Grover — in their head, Sarah Catherine Hook, who stars as Caroline Merteuil, admitted she “probably, without realizing it, maybe took inspiration” from Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Kathryn Merteuil after being introduced to the cult classic in seventh grade with a group of friends.
“I tried to really do my own thing, and I was given that blessing from our showrunners Sara Goodman and Phoebe Fisher — They really wanted us all to come in with a fresh voice and a fresh take on the characters, and really encouraged us not to copy and paste what they had done in the film in the ’90s,” Hook told TheWrap. “I love Sarah Michelle Gellar, and I love her performance, and I don’t think it needs to be copied or touched.”
The TV adaptation from Sony Pictures Television continues the “Cruel Intentions” legacy with the boundary-pushing attraction between step siblings Caroline and Lucien, who strike up a cruel deal for Lucien to seduce the VP’s daughter, Annie Grover, whom Caroline sees as the ticket for her sorority to get immunity from a Greek life hazing incident. In exchange, Caroline tells Lucien he can finally get want he wants: her.
Whereas the movie provides a glimpse into the step siblings twisted relationship, the series deepens viewers’ understanding of Caroline and Lucien by spotlighting their individual relationship with their parents, which is, you guessed it, even more twisted.
“Seeing … the difficult relationship she has with her mom … is really telling of why she is the way she is,” Hook said, adding that audience’s first impression of Caroline as the campus’ ruthless queen bee transforms with more empathy. “It’s easy to just play a mean girl and have her be one-note, but, at the end of the day, you do also do want to see a human in there.”
For Burgess, on the other hand, the biggest priority was for Lucien, who is known for being a womanizer across campus, to be “likable,” “as much as much as you sort of love to hate him and hate to love him,” he said.
Most girls on campus see Lucien for the player he is, including Annie, with Smith noting she “didn’t want people to take her naïveté for her being stupid,” adding “she’s very observant and aware — She’s just trying to put the pieces together.”
Despite being aware of Lucien’s reputation and his moves, Annie still finds herself draw to him. “There’s always been this pressure for her to stay on a straight line and do things by the book — She can’t really ever color outside the lines and I think that Lucien, as a person, is just like coloring outside the lines personified,” Smith said. “He encourages her to have these new experiences and think for herself for the first time ever.”
By the end of the eight-episode season, all of Caroline and Lucien’s secrets are about to spill out — starting with a slew of Lucien’s sex tapes being leaked by Caroline after Lucien tells Caroline he forfeited their deal and Caroline tells him he’s unworthy of love, leaving the step siblings in what Burgess calls a “tumultuous standpoint.”
“Caroline is convinced that this is unconditional love, but they’re not actually related, so I don’t know if she realizes just how far she pushed him,” Hook added. “She has a moment where she’s like, ‘Did I go too far?’ and that kind of scares her.”
As Lucien reels from Caroline’s harsh confrontation, he ices out Annie, leaving her alone in bed after she agreed for him to tape their hookup, though it’s left ambiguous what happened that made him forfeit the deal with Caroline. With the time away from Lucien — and the discovery of the sex tapes — Smith said Annie has “really digested and understood where Lucian is coming from.”
“She figures out that he has inner turmoil … whereas before, I think she thought it was … about her and … by the end, she realizes that it’s really not, and I think that’s why she’s more comfortable going her own way,” Smith said of Annie officially joining Delta Phi Pi alongside Caroline. Even so, Burgess suspects Lucien will continue to pursue Annie in a potential Season 2, for which the stars said they would to be onboard.
Whereas the movie sees Kathryn have a fall from grace, Caroline’s closest confidants start to see her for who she truly is, with both CeCe (Sara Silva) as well as Annie and Beatrice (Brooke Lena Johnson) slowly putting together the pieces that Caroline was the student who slept with Professor Chadwick (Sean Patrick Thomas), with whom CeCe had developed a relationship.
“If we were to have a Season 2, I feel like she would try to do damage control in her Caroline way,” Hook said. “Our show runner, Sara Goodman, is very protective of Caroline’s power, so I don’t know what her plans are gonna be like. I think she is gonna have to experience a little bit of a downfall, but I kind of feel like she’s just gonna continue to stay on top.”
While Smith notes Annie has been taking Caroline at face value through the season, Annie “definitely knows something’s up” by the end of the season, especially after talking with CeCe and noting some things about Caroline’s story aren’t adding up.
The other shoe has yet to drop about Caroline and Lucien’s deal for Lucien to seduce Annie, with Smith said “definitely going to rock her world a little bit.” “It’s definitely gonna be a shock — I’m interested to see how that plays out,” Smith said. “There’s room to go in a couple different directions there.”
All episodes of “Cruel Intentions” are now streaming on Prime Video.
