Twenty-five years after the release of the cult-classic film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon, Sony Pictures TV and Prime Video are dropping a “Cruel Intentions” TV series. Adapted for television by Phoebe Fisher and Sara Goodman, this 21st-century retelling is a battle of wills between two volatile stepsiblings: the conniving and cross-wearing Caroline Merteuil (Sarah Catherine Hook) and the manipulative Lucien Belmont (Zac Burgess). Determined to preserve Greek life on their college campus, the pair team up to exploit freshman Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith), who happens to be the daughter of the vice president of the United States. While the show hits all the beats of the film, it lacks originality and the sultry sinisterness that made the movie’s main characters so alluring.

Hollywood seems intent on creating remakes of well-known IP. So, after years of delays, the resurrection of “Cruel Intentions” was probably inevitable.