Back in November 2024, Prime Video tried its hand at remaking a classic cult film, Cruel Intentions. The 1999 movie stars Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe. The streamer decided to restart the franchise off with an 8-episode television series. Though its the end of the road for the show, clearly not hitting with audiences like its predecessors.
According to TVLine, Cruel Intentions on Prime Video has been cancelled after just one season. There was no reason given as to why the streaming service decided to go in this route. The company usually doesn't release viewership numbers like other streamer and networks do, and it doesn't have a Top 10 feature to help us gauge how many people were watching.
Though honestly if you just head to Rotten Tomatoes to see what viewers thought in general or look at what critics have written, this move really isn't a surprise. Not to sound cruel, yes pun intended, but I think this was the right move for Prime Video to make. This cancellation needed to happen. I usually don't go off of what critics say, but this time they're right. The story just didn't manage to keep my attention. When you're watching something, you want to feel like you're fully immersed in that world. And the drama series wasn't able to deliver on that. So it's not a surprise, and it's honestly a relief, that it's been cancelled.
It's also really difficult to try and remake a classic movie or show. I know we live in the age of reboots and sequels right now. But you have to be intentional, yup pun intended again, and really bring the already existing story to life in an intriguing way while adding your own spin on it. And that can be really hard to do because 99% of the time, the remake is not going to be ask good as the original. And I think that's what happened here.
The Cruel Intentions series does end on multiple cliffhangers, including the fact that Lucien slept with Caroline's mom and recorded it, Annie started to catch on to the sorority president's antics, Lucien sends the video to his stepsister, and then the final moments of the season end with him driving his car away and ignoring missed calls from Caroline and Annie.
Fans of the movie may have been surprised to see this happen since the Lucien character - named Sebastian in the film - actually dies at the end. Though the creatives of the show, Phoebe Fisher and Sara Goodman, decided to take a different approach because they'd envisioned the series to continue for multiple seasons.
Well, sorry guys. That's not going to happen now. And even though the drama has ended on these cliffhangers, I can say we'll be fine and can move on with our lives.
Cruel Intentions is streaming on Prime Video.