Cruel Intentions EPs, Stars Talk Finale’s Different Ending, Lucien’s Fate and His ‘Big F–k You’ to Caroline — Grade It
Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Cruel Intentions finale. Proceed at your own risk!
Fans of the movie Cruel Intentions will, of course, recall that Ryan Phillippe’s character, Sebastian, met a tragic end at the conclusion of the 1999 film. His TV counterpart, Lucien, however, got a reprieve as the Prime Video series wrapped up Season 1.
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In the finale, Lucien retaliated after his step-sister Caroline revealed his secret (that his mother killed herself) to Annie, then told her step-brother that he was soulless and not worthy of love. Lucien, in turn, slept with Caroline’s mother and recorded the sexual encounter. Meanwhile, Caroline’s sorority sister Cece and Annie both started to wise up to the blonde’s lies, with Annie suspecting that Caroline was the one who made the sexual misconduct complaint against Cece’s love interest, Professor Chadwick (played by the movie’s Sean Patrick Thomas).
In a closing montage, Caroline received a new upload to her and Lucien’s shared drive, where he put his sexual recordings for Caroline to view. The movie ended with Reese Witherspoon’s Annette driving Sebastian’s beloved car after his death, with his journal in tow, whereas the show found a very-much-alive Lucien driving as he sported Caroline’s cross necklace, while ignoring her call and missing one from Annie.
“Honestly, who’s to say it’s not worse than getting hit by a car?” co-showrunner Phoebe Fisher jokes of the series’ different ending, referencing the devastating way Sebastian’s life is cut off.
In all seriousness, Fisher and co-showrunner Sara Goodman envision Cruel Intentions as an ongoing series — the show has yet to be renewed — so they “weren’t ready to leave [Lucien] quite yet,” Fisher says.
Zac Burgess, who plays Lucien, has not seen the cult-classic film and, thus, was not immediately aware of what happens to his movie counterpart.
“I sort of figured out halfway through filming,” the actor shares. “I was like, ‘Wait! What?! He dies?!’ And then, I was like, ‘Sara, Phoebe, do I die? Is that what happens?'”
The showrunners reassured Burgess that that was not the way Lucien’s story was going to go. Instead, “I think we chose emotional, psychological violence over physical violence,” Goodman says with a laugh. “I think we wanted to see what was going to happen next to him, with all of them. So we can’t kill him. We just had to make him behave very, very badly.”
And boy did he behave badly, hooking up with his step-mother, whose love and approval Caroline desperately craves. It’s a sore spot that Lucien clearly knew about and exploited by having sex with Caroline’s disapproving mother (and presumably sharing the recording with Caroline).
“Lucien and Caroline have a deep love for each other,” Burgess says. “Lucien’s gone through a pretty horrific life, having discovered his mother after she committed suicide. And so, the closest thing to him is Caroline, and for Caroline to have treated him the way that she did, and to say the things that she did, it tears his heart out, and he is bleeding openly, especially because he’s in such a vulnerable place after developing feelings for Annie.”
So Lucien struck Caroline where it hurts most: “I think it’s absolutely, like, a big ‘F–k you’ moment,” Burgess says.
Looking ahead at a potential Season 2, Burgess’ co-star, Sarah Catherine Hook (aka Caroline), suspects that “war is going to break out between several characters,” she shares. “Pretty much all of the relationships have kind of crumbled a little bit — not that Caroline and Cece have completely fallen. But I could see [Cece], eventually, finding out [about what Caroline did to Chadwick], and then the damage that’s been done with that, I don’t know how one recovers. So, yeah, all hell is going to break loose.”
What did you think of the Cruel Intentions season finale? Grade it below, then hit the comments!
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