The 10 biggest differences between Prime Video’s Cruel Intentions and the 1999 film

Despite being part of the same franchise and having the same premise, Prime Video’s Cruel intentions The TV show is very different from the 1999 film of the same name. Directed by Roger Kumble and based on the 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereusesby Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Cruel intentions follows half-siblings Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe), who make a bet for their entertainment that involves the daughter of their school’s new principal, Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon). Cruel intentions spawned a failed prequel and sequel, and now it’s returned as a TV show.

THE Cruel intentions The TV show centers on wealthy half-siblings Caroline Merteuil (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Lucien Belmont (Zac Burgess), who also become involved in a bet, but for very different reasons than those between Kathryn and Sebastian. Parallel to this are Caroline’s plans to get Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith) to join her sorority, along with Blaise’s (John Harlan Kim) sneaky plans to get money from his fraternity. These are just a few differences between Cruel intentions TV show and the 1999 movie, but there’s more.

10

Cruel Intentions TV Show Focuses on Fraternities

The TV show Cruel Intentions isn’t just about the half-siblings’ bet

THE Cruel intentions The TV show is mostly set at a Washington D.C. college, where fraternities and sororities are a big deal among its wealthy students. Caroline is the president of Delta Phi sorority, while Lucien is the treasurer of Alpha Gamma. and Blaise serves as social president. There’s an anti-Greek movement on campus led by Beatrice Worth (Brooke Lena Johnson), which, along with a scandal at the last spring dance, puts fraternities and sororities at risk – but Caroline sees her salvation in Annie Grover.

Annie Grover is the vice president’s daughter and a freshman at this college, so Caroline knows this, if Annie joins Delta Phi they will be safe. Almost all of the main character’s activities are related to his fraternities and sororities, which are never mentioned in the Cruel intentions film. In it, the focus is on Kathryn, Sebastian, Annette and the bet they are all involved in, as well as the unexpected turns it takes.

9

Annie Grover is the vice president’s daughter

The Cruel Intentions TV show gets even bigger with Annie

As mentioned above, in the Cruel intentions film, Annette Hargrove is the daughter of the new directorbut the TV show goes much further. On the TV show, Annie Grover is the vice president’s daughterso all eyes are on her. Annie is followed by bodyguards, making it a little harder for Lucien to get close to her, and of course, Delta Phi isn’t the only sorority that wants to get Annie to join them. Caroline isn’t the only one interested in Annie, as her mother wants to meet the vice president and wants Caroline to make it happen.

Annie, being the vice president’s daughter, adds some extra “value” and a lot more risk to Caroline and Lucien’s gamble, as one false move could trigger a major scandal. Node Cruel intentions movie, Kathryn and Sebastian choose Annette as the target of their bet not because of her social status, but because Sebastian is bored and wants a challenge, and Annette has written an article about being against loveless sex.

8

Caroline and Lucien’s bet has a purpose

It’s not just for fun

Node Cruel intentions film, Kathryn and Sebastian make the bet that starts the story for mere fun. As mentioned above, Sebastian wants a challenge as it’s very easy for him to seduce just about anyone, and Annette being firmly against loveless sex is the kind of challenge he seeks – and Kathryn is there to witness it all just for her own entertainment. . The terms of the bet also become clearer in the film: if Sebastian has sex with Annette, Kathryn will finally have sex with him, but if he loses, she wins his beloved vintage car.

On the TV show, Caroline challenges Lucien to seduce Annie and have sex with her so they can convince her to join Delta Phi – after all, Lucien has already slept with most of the sorority’s potential pledges. If he achieves this, Caroline will sleep with him, and later in the series, she takes Lucien’s car out of her parents’ garage to return it as a consolation prize. Caroline’s bet and plan have a purpose, and it’s not just to keep herself entertained at the expense of other people’s pain.

7

Caroline is not motivated by sex like Kathryn

Caroline has other motivations in the TV show Cruel Intentions

Both Sebastian and Kathryn enjoy sex in the Cruel intentions film and is not afraid or ashamed to admit it. While the film certainly focuses more on Sebastian’s sex life and how he tends to seduce anyone and then abandon them after getting what he wants, Kathryn explicitly mentions that she likes sex. It’s not surprising, then, that their bet revolves around sex: on getting Sebastian to sleep with Annette and on Kathryn promising to have sex with Sebastian if he wins.

Like Sebastian, it is implied that Kathryn has several sexual partners, and she even ends up seducing Cecile’s (Selma Blair) music teacher, Ronald Clifford (Sean Patrick Thomas), with whom Cecile has fallen in love. In the TV show, Caroline is driven by power and doesn’t show an interest in sex like Kathryn – however, she does mention to Lucien that she loves sex after he finds her with Professor Chadwick (Thomas), but this happens. late this It’s hard to believe she could be as sex-oriented as Kathryn.

6

Lucien’s Tapes VS Sebastian’s Diary

Lucien has more controversial ways of keeping up with his sexual partners

Both Sebastian and Lucien have multiple sexual partners in their respective versions of Cruel intentionsbut they control them in very different ways. Throughout the film, Sebastian can be seen writing in his diary, and he does so in great detail, even with photos and drawings. Her diary is the key to Kathryn’s downfall at the end of Cruel intentionsas it is thanks to this that everyone at college and Kathryn’s parents learn how evil she is and all the damage she has caused to Annette, Cecile and more.

Node Cruel intentions TV show, Lucien doesn’t keep a diary – instead he films all of his sexual encounters and uploads the videos to an archive that he shares with Carolinewho uses these videos for his own pleasure. The only video he doesn’t send is Annie’s, because he promised no one would see it and he fell in love with her. However, the TV show changed Sebastian’s story and instead of the videos of Lucien helping him and the rest, they are used by Caroline to hurt him, but he has one finishing move to destroy Caroline on a level deep and personal.

5

Blaise has a bigger role than Blaine

Blaise does a lot more on the Cruel Intentions TV show

Blaise is the equivalent of Blaine from the film (Joshua Jackson) in Cruel intentions TV program. Blaine is Sebastian’s friend and marijuana supplier, who occasionally has sex with the school’s football star, Greg McConnell. Blaine helps Sebastian set Greg up because he is Annette’s friend and someone told her all about Sebastian’s habits of seducing students. Blaine’s role in Cruel intentions the film doesn’t go any further than that, but Blaise is given a larger role in the TV show’s story.

Blaise takes Scott Russell (Khobe Clarke) under his wing when he joins Alpha Gamma and they become lovers. As Scott is very naive and malleable, Blaise takes advantage and moves everything so that Scott becomes president of the fraternity. What Blaise wants is to take the fraternity’s moneyas he is struggling financially and his parents owe the college money, so he makes Scott write checks. Lucien, as treasurer of Alpha Gamma, discovers that Blaise has been embezzling fraternity funds and Blaise is expelled – but takes the fraternity’s books with him.

4

CeCe looks nothing like Cecile from the movie

CeCe is a much better character than Cecile

CeCe is for Cruel intentions TV show what Cecile represents to the film. THE Cruel intentions The film shows Kathryn taking Cecile under her wing, but it’s not because Kathryn has a good heart – it’s because Cecile is dating Kathryn’s ex-boyfriend, Court Reynolds, and she wants revenge when he left her for her promiscuity. Sebastian helps Kathryn corrupt Cecile when he discovers that it was Cecile’s mother who told Annette to stay away from him.

When Kathryn notices the romantic tension between Cecile and her music teacher, Ronald Clifford, she and Sebastian use this to further corrupt Cecile, but also keep her away from Ronald, who Kathryn ends up seducing. CeCe, on the other hand, is Caroline’s best friend and right-hand woman, and she is chronically stressed because she is always busy, but she is not as malleable and naive as Cecile.

When CeCe becomes Professor Chadwick’s TA, she begins to become distracted from her sorority duties and Caroline sees this as disloyalty. Tired of this, Caroline seduces Chadwick to later file a sexual misconduct complaint against him, all so that CeCe can no longer continue being her TA and return to full service with Delta Phi.

3

Caroline doesn’t use CeCe for revenge

Kathryn wanted revenge with cruel intentions

Another big difference between Cruel intentions movie and TV show is the relationship between Caroline and CeCe. In the film, Kathryn and Cecile meet when the latter’s mother comes to Kathryn to guide Cecile as she is new to the school, but as explained above, What Kathryn wants is revenge, since Cecile is her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend. Kathryn manipulates Cecile as she sees fit, as she is very naive and there is not exactly a friendship between them.

On the other hand, Caroline and CeCe had already known each other for some time at the time of the events of Cruel IntentTV program. CeCe truly sees Caroline as her best friend and does everything she can to keep Delta Phi running and Caroline satisfied with everything in the sorority. To Caroline, however, CeCe is nothing more than a pawn, and she manipulates her as she sees fit. Caroline doesn’t use CeCe for any revenge, but she cheats on her.

2

Sean Patrick Thomas plays a different teacher

Sean Patrick Thomas is the only actor in the film and TV show

The only actor who Cruel intentions movie and TV show have in common is Sean Patrick Thomas. In the film, Thomas plays Ronald Clifford, Cecile’s young music teacher.. Cecile falls in love with Ronald and the feeling is mutual, but because Kathryn wants to corrupt and ruin Cecile, she tells Cecile’s mother about Ronald and he is fired. Later, Kathryn seduces Ronald and tells him that Sebastian hurt her and slept with Cecile, leading to a fight between Ronald and Sebastian that ends with Sebastian being run over.

Node Cruel intentions TV show, Thomas plays history teacher Hank Chadwick, who takes on CeCe as his TA. CeCe develops feelings for Chadwick and it’s mutual, but Chadwick tells her that they should wait until she graduates to try something together. Unfortunately, at the end of Cruel intentionsChadwick’s future at school remains unknown as he is under investigation for sexual misconduct, but CeCe begins to suspect that Caroline is lying to her.

1

Lucien doesn’t die at the end of the TV show Cruel Intentions

Rest in peace Sebastian Valmont

The biggest difference between Cruel intentions movie and the TV show is the finale. In the film, Sebastian dies when he is run over. Annette tries to intervene in Sebastian and Ronald’s fight and is thrown into traffic, so Sebastian pushes her to safety, but is hit by a taxi. Since Annette already has Sebastian’s diary, she prints several copies and gives them to everyone at the college with Cecile’s help during Sebastian’s funeral. This leads to Kathryn’s downfall as everyone discovers how evil she really is, along with some of her darkest secrets.

On the TV show, Lucien doesn’t die, but he hurts Caroline back after she releases their sex tapes. Knowing how bad Caroline’s relationship is with her mother and that she doesn’t really love Caroline, Lucien has sex with his stepmother and shares the video with Caroline. THE Cruel intentions The TV show ends with Lucien driving away in his vintage car while ignoring Caroline and Annie’s calls.