Making its HBO Max debut on November 14, 2025, The Seduction marks yet another adaptation of the classic French novel, Les Liaisons dangereuses. The best and most famous adaptation remains Stephen Frears’ steamy, star-studded 1988 version of Dangerous Liaisons, which was also adapted into a 2022 TV series by the Starz Network. With a slight wrinkle this time, The Seduction serves as a prequel, following the early days of Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil (Anamaria Vartolomei) as she comes of age and learns to wield her seductive power.
With new weekly episodes airing every Friday, the six-part historical romantic drama charts Marquise de Merteuil’s rise to power, expansive influence, and romantic hold on her suitors in Paris before the French Revolution. For a timeless tale that has been adapted into several languages and media formats, it’s worth exploring why Dangerous Liaisons remains so enchanting and how it ties into HBO’s The Seduction.
How ‘The Seduction’ Adapts a 243-Year-Old Story
Adapted from the 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, The Seduction chronicles the early days of Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil (Anamaria Vartolomei), a romantically jilted and vengeful aristocrat in 18th-century Paris. To contextualize the prequel, it’s best to consider the first major cinematic adaptation of the timeless story, Stephen Frears’ stellar 1988 adaptation.
In that film, a grown Isabelle (played by Glenn Close in an Oscar-nominated performance) is rejected by her former lover, Comte Bastide, prompting a searing psychosexual drama of seductive manipulation, romantic scheming, and conniving carnality. Vowing to get back at her ex-lover, Isabelle recruits the rakish womanizer Vicomte de Valmont (a never-better John Malkovich), convincing him to seduce one of Bastide’s female virgins, Cécile de Volanges (Uma Thurman).
Although he lacks scruples, the sexually depraved Valmont rejects Isabelle’s offer and begins seducing Madame de Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer), a highly pious woman with radiant beauty. Cecil’s mother and Isabelle’s cousin, Madame de Volanges (Swoosie Kurtz), warns Tourvel to avoid Valmont’s lusty advances, prompting Valmont to change his mind and seduce Cécile instead. Further entangling the romantic web of deceit, Valmont’s lurid ploy backfires when Cécile meets and falls for the dashing young Chevalier Danceny (Keanu Reeves), plumbing envious feelings that Valmont must navigate.
In HBO’s The Seduction, the story will predate what transpires in the novel and 1988 movie. The focus will spotlight Isabelle’s youthful upbringing and coming of age as she navigates the lascivious culture of Paris in the 1700s, giving the timeless tale a modern feminist twist.
Who Stars in ‘The Seduction’?
Although The Seduction will be a prequel to Dangerous Liaisons, many recurring characters appear in the HBO adaptation. French actress Anamaria Vartolomei (Mickey 17) plays Madame Isabelle de Merteuil as a younger, 20-something version of the character. Noée Abita (My Summer with Irene) portrays Madame de Tourvel, Fantine Harduin (Happy End) plays Cécile de Volanges, and Vincent Lacoste (Along Came Love) plays Valmont. Superb German actor Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds) plays Valmont’s aunt, Rosemonde, portrayed by Mildred Natwick in the 1988 film.
Written by Jean-Baptiste Delafon (Of Money and Blood) and directed by Jessica Palud (Being Maria), The Seduction also stars Lucas Bravo as the devious Gercourt (Emily in Paris). Julien De Saint Jean (Love Me Tender), Juliett Thierry-Mieg (Wolfpack), and Patrick d’Assumçao (The Taste of Things) also star in the show. Although their roles are unspecified, the supporting cast is sure to prop up the main characters as Isabelle rises to power and becomes an irresistible force within Paris’s steamy, polyamorous aristocracy.
The Seduction joins several multimedia and multilingual adaptations of the source novel, including Milos Forman’s 1989 version, Valmont; the 1999 American remake, Cruel Intentions (also starring Swoosie Kurtz); the 2022 American TV series Dangerous Liaisons; the canceled 2024 American TV series Cruel Intentions; and many more. The story has been adapted in Korean, Colombian, Brazilian, and Czech productions. Now that it returns to its French origins, The Seduction plans to update the story for 21st-century viewers.
The Seduction Aims To Update a Timeless Tale for Modern Audiences
Although the story is set before the events in the novel, The Seduction has a deliberate modern-day focus. According to Jessica Palud, it was important to frame The Seduction as a contemporary take on the #MeToo Movement, telling Variety:
“In the book, we understand she [Isabelle] experienced some trauma because she was taken advantage of by Valmont. In ‘The Seduction,’ we made her much more feminist. You could say that the story of Merteuil is really the #MeToo of the 18th century.”
To separate the new HBO Max series from previous adaptations, Palud also created a more fertile dynamic between Isabelle and Valmont’s aunt, Rosemonde, adding:
“We created a relationship between two women, one who is evolving in this world and ultimately wanted to speak out, but at the same time who is part of the old world, who thinks it’s not possible to go too far and that we can’t surpass men, and who is still trapped in this patriarchal world. We wanted to have a woman who was a bit of an outsider in this group of young people but was still beautiful and looked young. We put some names on the table, and Diane Kruger came up.”
Another new addition to the updated prequel is the hedonistic Gercourt, Isabelle’s former lover, who plays a prominent role in the novel but is absent from Frears’ movie. About casting Lucas Bravo as an insatiable Lothario, Palud stated:
“I had never seen ‘Emily in Paris,’ so I didn’t know anything about Lucas Bravo. I didn’t know him. I saw him at the casting and I found him. I thought this guy had a fabulous evil look. He’s like Captain Hook! It’s a really dark role. He’s a character who has a lot of violence in him.”
Regardless of the new plot points and character dynamics, The Seduction is supported by an ageless tale of lewd Libertine lust. Although set in the distant past, Palud is more interested in framing the classic 18th-century story to make a bold statement about today’s societal attitudes toward promiscuous sex, the age of consent, bodily autonomy, feminine-masculine power dynamics, and how far civilization has come in the past 250 years. The Seduction will be available to stream on HBO Max on November 14.
- Release Date
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November 14, 2025
- Network
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HBO Max
- Directors
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Jessica Palud
- Writers
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Jean-Baptiste Delafon
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Anamaria Vartolomei
Merteuil
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