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‘Cruel Intentions’ TV Show In The Works — Will Reese Witherspoon And Sarah Michelle Gellar Make Cameos?

By Patricia Grannum
Published on: 06:03 PST, Oct 21, 2015

A Cruel Intentions TV show is happening — this is not a drill.

E! Online reports that NBC has ordered a new Cruel Intentions show from the creative mind behind the first movie, writer and director Roger Kumble and the creators of Cruel Intentions: The Musical, Jordan Ross and Lindsey Rosin.

According to E! Online, the plot of the Cruel Intentions TV show will revolve around the son of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe’s characters. Fans of the original Cruel Intentions movie will remember that Sebastian (Ryan Phillipe) died at the end of the movie. The child was obviously conceived before that happened.

The TV show is set 16 years later, when Bash discovers his father’s journal and learns about the family history that he never knew existed. He decides to leave the small Kansas town where he grew up on a scholarship to Brighton Preparatory Academy in San Francisco. There he becomes embroiled in a maelstrom of sex and greed, which viewers first got a taste of in the Cruel Intentions movie.

This isn’t the first time that a Cruel Intentions sequel has been adapted into a television show. Kumble made Manchester Prep in 1999, and Fox ordered a run of the show. However, it was canceled before anyone ever saw the opening credits. It was later released straight-to-DVD as Cruel Intentions 2. There’s no word on whether the original actors from the movie, such as Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Selma Blair, will be making cameos in the Cruel Intentions TV show.

The Cruel Intentions cast have already had something of a reunion already at the musical. Witherspoon, Gellar, and Blair caused a social media frenzy when they went to see the show together, obviously triggering lots of 90s nostalgia in viewers. The Cruel Intentions movie launched their careers and accrued $75 million at the box office. According to Variety, during the musical, the three actresses were taking selfies, sipping on drinks, and singing along to the songs.

Reese Witherspoon, in particular, reportedly got very involved in the action onstage. Director Lindsay Rosin told Variety that at one point, during a break in the music when Annette screams “Wait” to Sebastian. Reese repeated the line loudly in full character. The crowd erupted in cheers.

Back to the TV show, Kumble actually met the Cruel Intentions musical creators Lindsey Rosin and Jordan Ross at one of the showings and that first meeting led to them deciding to work on the series together

As Variety reports in the original movie, there’s no confirmation that Annette (Reese Witherspoon) is pregnant, but in that final shot as she’s driving away in the car, she is carrying Sebastian’s journal. Kumble will direct the pilot, according to Variety.

Apparently, the show concept and script had been making the rounds among Hollywood studios before it was taken up at NBC.

Cruel Intentions the movie was first released in 1999. The film is actually an adaptation of the book Dangerous Liaisons written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos in 1782. The movie sets the action amidst rich teenagers living in the Upper East Side. Though Cruel Intentions initially received mixed critical reviews, it was a runaway box office hit.

The film plot revolves around a bet made between Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillipe), two seductive and wealthy step-siblings who attend a prestigious prep school in New York. To win, Sebastian must deflower the headmaster’s daughter Annette (Reese Witherspoon) before the end of summer break. If he loses, Sebastian has to give up his vintage 1959 Jaguar Roadster. If he wins, he gets to have his step-sister Kathryn, the one girl that he thought he could never have.

According to E! Online, the Cruel Intentions TV show could air as early as fall of next year on NBC.

[Photo via Columbia Pictures]

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