Sarah Michelle Gellar Reveals She’s ‘Grateful’ NBC Canceled ‘Cruel Intentions’ Series

Sarah Michelle Gellar will always be beloved for her role in the 90s classic Cruel Intentions. She starred as the rosary-carrying, cocaine-snorting Kathryn Merteuil in the teen drama. A reboot came in the form of a television drama, but didn’t add up to the same hype as the film and was gone as quickly as it debuted on NBC. But Gellar says the show was never going to be a hit because of being on family-friendly network television. “[It was] not a good fit [for NBC],” she told the New York Times, “I don’t know. That was a whole crazy time. Nothing against NBC, but Cruel Intentions is straight streaming. On the first day, I was like, ‘This isn’t working.’ It’s just not a network show. And if it is a network show, it’s not my Cruel Intentions. So, I was actually grateful.”

And despite the complexities within her character that viewers love to hate, tthe actress says she wouldn’t change anything about being the villain. “No. I think that not everything in life gets wrapped up with a happy bow. There was never going to be a happy ending because I don’t think she would allow herself to have it,” she said, adding: “The youth of today look at it differently. They feel like they deserve the happy ending, and thus, they will go out and get it. I think that’s a really positive thing.”

Released in 1999, the film followed the lives of two convincing stepsiblings who are the queen and king of their Manhattan prep school who make a bet: deflower the new headmaster’s daughter before the start of term. But their bet leds them on a dangerous path as one of the siblings begins to fall for the victim of their scheme. Alongside Gellar, the film also starred Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Philippe. 

Critics reviews were mixed, but Gellar’s performance was praised heavily. A review from the Washington Post reads: “As for Gellar, hello, hello, hello. Two weeks ago in a flaccid remake of “Like Water for Chocolate” called “I, the Insipid” – no, no, called (a slight pause while Hunter looks it up) “Simply Irresistible,” that Buffy gal hardly registered. She was so nicey-nice she made you want to throwy-up,” the review notes in reference to Gellar’s girl-next-door role that was released in the weeks prior. 

But in Cruel Intentions, she was quite the contrary. The review continues: “Here, she’s a piece of delicious chocolate evil, a sinister heart lurking under the cheerful all-American guise as the Most Popular Student Body President Ever! The crucifix she wears close to her heart contains 100 percent pure Colombian white girl. But hers also is Laclos’ conceit (and Close’s and Annette Bening’s in “Valmont”), which makes her not merely dangerous but also interesting: In a world ruled by stupid men, a smart woman plays the game of sex because it’s the only table they’ll let her sit at, and they have no right to be surprised, therefore, when she wins.”