Starz cancels Dangerous Liaisons , undoing season 2 renewal
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Dangerous Liaisons will have to keep its secrets to itself from now on.
Starz has canceled the steamy costume drama and will no longer be moving forward with a second season, reversing a renewal announcement that came last month ahead of the series premiere, EW has confirmed. A source familiar with the decision said it was a difficult one, but unfortunately the show did not find an audience. The final two installments of the eight-episode first season will air as scheduled.
Based on the Pierre Choderlos de Laclos novel of the same name, Dangerous Liaisons debuted Nov. 6 and reimagined the world of 18th-century seduction and manipulation as an origin story. The series followed its legendary characters — the bold Camille (Alice Englert) and cunning Valmont (Nicholas Denton) — as they climbed to the top of high society in pre-revolutionary France by any means necessary.
Dusan Martincek/Starz Kathryn Wilder and Paloma Faith on 'Dangerous Liaisons'
Laclos' book has been adapted several times, first for the stage, then the screen. A 1988 film iteration starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich was nominated for seven Oscars, and the tale was later reinterpreted as the teen drama Cruel Intentions, featuring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe.
Series creator Harriet Warner recently discussed her take on the material with EW. "There's one particular letter in the book that really gives this sense that there could have been a very different life before this very iconic character of the Marquise de Merteuil," she said. "That kind of made me think, 'Wow, there is something new to say here.' There's been so many adaptations, you want to have something fresh to say, and I thought, 'I want to know how these two people come to be so amoral and corrupted and the toxicity of their relationship. I want to go back to the beginning. How did that start?'"
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