With streaming services in a constant search for content, many exclusives are made based on existing IPs. Now one such Amazon Prime Video series, based on a very popular movie, has been canceled after one season on the platform.
While the 1999 feature film counterpart has been quite popular for decades, having been worthwhile enough to adapt for television in the first place, it looks like its Amazon Prime adaptation has failed to find the same success. As such, Prime Video has finally axed the show with only one season under its belt.
Interestingly, however, bad luck with television seems to have followed this property for decades. Thus the cancellation of this series, even with only one season, might not come as much of a surprise for fans familiar with the source material. It does, though, serve as a reminder of the unpredictable nature of television success, where even well-loved franchises can struggle to find a lasting audience.
As shared by Variety:
“The ‘Cruel Intentions‘ TV series at Amazon Prime Video has been canceled after just one season.”
The series is an adaptation based on a similar concept to the 1999 film Cruel Intentions, itself based on a classic novel titled Dangerous Liaisons from 1782. The first attempt to get the feature film onto television screens occurred with the 1999 straight-to-series order for a prequel series. However, the series was axed over controversy and retooled into a straight-to-video film titled Cruel Intentions 2.
After a third direct-to-video movie was released in 2004, titled Cruel Intentions 3, the original film’s star Sarah Michelle Gellar agreed to reprise her role as Kathryn Merteuil for a pilot in 2016. The network ultimately passed on the pilot, leaving the franchise’s future unclear until the 2024 Amazon Prime series Cruel Intentions.
While the new series achieved the unthinkable, bringing the Cruel Intentions brand to the small screen as a TV series, it didn’t last for long. Now that it’s been canceled after just one season, it’s possible that the rightsholders’ journey to bring Cruel Intentions to television has come to an end. Though that does leave several movies and a single season of television based on the successful 1999 movie.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for more streaming news as we have it. For now, 2024’s Cruel Intentions is available for viewing on Amazon Prime Video.