As the fate of NBC’s television version of Cruel Intentions hangs in the balance, NBC seems to still be holding out hope that the show will come to light. The cast options for the entire cast, including Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Kathryn Merteuil in the original movie, have been extended, which shows that the network still has hopes to finally greenlight the project, according to Variety.
Extending the cast options means those who signed on for the pilot are still under contract, showing that NBC still has hopes that Cruel Intentions will air on the network.
Casting for the pilot happened back in February, when Taylor John Smith was cast in the role of Bash Casey, Annette and Sebastian’s son who was born after the events of the first movie. Soon after Smith was casted, it was announced that Gellar would be reprising her role as Kathryn. It was also confirmed at that time that Reese Witherspoon, who played Annette Hargrove in the original movie, wouldn’t be reprising her role in the television show.
But when NBC announced their new fall shows and their fall schedule, fans noticed that Cruel Intentions was left off the list of pilot pickups. Bob Greenblatt, NBC chairman, said “We’re still discussing it…It falls under the heading of embarrassment of riches. It’s a bit of an outlier for us. … We like it, we’re still discussing it and we’re trying to figure it out.”
Robert Kumble, the creator and executive producer of Cruel Intentions, said that because of Memorial Day and the network executives going on vacation for the summer has made it harder to sort things out for the show, but said that emails from both NBC and Sony Television, the studio behind the show, made it seem like both of them wanted to get the show on the air.
Even if Cruel Intentions doesn’t make it onto NBC’s schedule, there’s plenty of other networks wanting to get in on the action, with both Freeform and Hulu expressing interest in getting the rights to the show.
If the show does get picked up on NBC, there’s speculation that the show would air in the summer of 2017, which could be a better fit for the show since it would be more geared towards a younger audience.
Other cast members of the show include Peter Gallagher and Kate Levering, who will take over Witherspoon’s role of Annette.
Until the television show portion comes to light, fans of the original movie can watch it on Netflix.