Starz Announces Cast for Upcoming 'Dangerous Liaisons' Prequel

Cable network Starz has announced the cast for its upcoming Dangerous Liaisons prequel, a series that aims to tell the origin stories of the characters at the heart of the 1998 Academy Award-winning film starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich. 

According to Starz, this new Dangerous Liaisons is a bold reimagining of the iconic characters from Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ classic 18th century novel and tells the origin story of how the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont meet as passionate young lovers in Paris on the eve of revolution. Driven to right the wrongs of their past, we follow the couple as 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.

Beautiful Creatures' Alice Englert stars as Camille, a beautiful young woman from nowhere with a mysterious past who seeks revenge on the wealthy aristocrats who led her to ruin. Betrayed by her lover, Valmont, she turns heartbreak into empowerment as she strategizes to gain status, power, and freedom.

Nicholas Denton plays her lover Pascal Valmont, driven to regain the title and status stolen from him by his stepmother after his father’s death. Without status or money, he must seduce and blackmail to get what he wants, even if it risks losing the one he loves most – Camille.

At its core, this is the story of a young woman who negotiates love, sex, class, and power to navigate an oppressive, unjust establishment on the brink of collapse.

The series' supporting cast includes such familiar faces as World on Fire's Lesley Manville as Genevieve de Merteuil, a Marquise who becomes Camille’s mentor in the world of the Parisian nobility; Game of Thrones' Carice van Houten as Jacqueline de Montrachet, a pious noblewoman with a mysterious connection to Camille; Paloma Faith as fiery noblewoman Florence de Regnier; and The Alienist's Michael McElhatton as Jean de Merteuil, Genevieve de Merteuil’s husband and a powerful Marquis who threatens Camille’s rise in society.

No word yet on when we can expect to see this series on our screens, but a 2022 release seems likely.