Get a First Look at the New Adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons

If the long Outlander hiatus has got you craving a new sexy literary adaptation, you may want to take note. Starz—the network behind Outlander, Howards End, The White Queen and more—has a reimagining of Dangerous Liaisons on the way. The series is billed as "the story of a young woman who negotiates love, sex, class and power to navigate an oppressive, unjust establishment on the brink of collapse."

First published in 1782, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses is one of the most celebrated novels of its era. It follows two narcissistic young lovers turned rivals in pre-Revolutionary France, who ruthlessly seduce and manipulate those around them in their quest for power.

Alice Englert and Nicholas Denton will star as the central lovers, the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont. Per Starz's synopsis, the series is "a bold reimagining" of the novel, and will tell the origin story of how Merteuil and Valmont first meet as passionate young lovers in pre-Revolutionary Paris, and how they "rise from the slums of Paris and scale the heights of the French aristocracy, seducing and manipulating both the nobility and each other to survive."

The cast features Lesley Manville as Genevieve de Merteuil, Game of Thrones's Carice van Houten as Jacqueline de Montrachet, Paloma Faith as Florence de Regnier, Michael McElhatton as Jean de Merteuil, Kosar Ali as Victoire, Nathanael Saleh as Azolan, Hakeem Kae-Kazim as Majordome, Hilton Pelser as Gabriel Carrè, Mia Threapleton as Rose, Colette Dalal Tchantcho as Ondine de Valmont, Lucy Cohu as Christine de Sevigny, Fisayo Akinade as Chevalier de Saint-Jacques, Maria Friedman as Berthe, and Clare Higgins as Madame Jericho.

The eight-part series is created, written and executive produced by Harriet Warner, a writer for shows including Call the Midwife, The Alienist, and Mistresses, and this new adaptation has some big shoes to fill. Les Liaisons Dangereuses has been adapted numerous times, perhaps most notably for American audiences in the 1999 teen classic Cruel Intentions, which transposed the action into modern-day New York City. Stephen Frears also directed an acclaimed 1988 version, which starred John Malkovich and Glenn Close.

The first trailer for Dangerous Liaisons was released in August, and you can watch it below:

During a panel at the 2022 Television Critics Association summer press tour, Englert discussed the evergreen idea that there's a fine line between love and hate, and how the series walks that tightrope. "Some of the most compelling feelings I’ve had about another person certainly haven’t been love," she mused. "They might have been lust or obsession, or you recognize something injured in them that’s injured in you. Love is not nearly as interesting as what these two have!"

Series creator Harriet Warner added that Dangerous Liaisons is timely not only in its depiction of a young woman navigating a man's world, but also because it takes place in "a very divided society between rich and poor that has great resonance now."

Dangerous Liaisons will launch on Starz on November 6.

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