According to Variety, NBC has abruptly dropped its long-in-the-works TV sequel to the 1999 film Cruel Intentions. A pilot had been filmed for the 2016-2017 TV season, but NBC chose not to give it a series order at the time and renewed the entire cast’s contracts for the summer season. Now, though, NBC has apparently realized that it already had too many shows planned for the summer and midseason, so it has simply decided to quit viciously toying with Cruel Intentions’ emotions for some twisted game and just dump it already.
The Variety story points out that Cruel Intentions comes from Sony Pictures Television, not NBC, so there had apparently been some “lengthy back-and-forth negotiations” about ownership of the show. NBC had also supposedly expressed some concern previously that the “younger-skewing soapy drama” wouldn’t necessarily fit with the other shows on the network, which presumably means it was either too sexy or not sexy enough.
Interestingly, NBC seems to have foreshadowed this decision back in August, with NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke revealing that the network was considering developing a second version of the pilot that would play better on the more lenient streaming platforms. “It is designed to be dishy and fun and push the envelope as far as sexuality,” she said, which would be easier to pull off online than it would be on a network. Still, Variety says that “multiple networks” are interested in the show, so it might not be dead just yet.