While the original Fatal Attraction might be well-known for a disturbing scene involving the gruesome death of a rabbit, our first look at the new take on the material for Paramount+ has been revealed that reminds us of the very human element of the intense thriller. The new series stars Lizzy Caplan and Joshua Jackson, while the original starred Glenn Close and Michael Douglas, with the new series’ longer run time allowing more character elements to be explored, but also offering opportunities to shift the perspectives from the source material. You can check out the first look at the Fatal Attraction series on Paramount+ below before the series premieres on the streamer early next year.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Paramount+ describes the new series, “Joshua Jackson will star as Dan Gallagher, the object of his lover’s (Caplan) obsession after a brief affair. A deep-dive reimagining of the classic psychosexual thriller and ’80s cultural touchstone, the new series will explore fatal attraction and the timeless themes of marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes towards strong women, personality disorders, and coercive control.”ย
Writer Alexandra Cunningham addressed how the new series would be faithful to the original while also injecting new storytelling avenues to explore.
“I did a lot of reading about the film and Glenn Close talking about the empathy she had for Alex, and how she felt that Alex was out of control and obviously not evil, which I definitely agree with because I don’t believe in evil,” Cunningham revealed to Entertainment Weekly. “Glenn talked about how, when she was doing the character work on Alex, she brought the script to two different psychiatrists, and neither one of them brought up mental illness, because it was the ’80s and nobody did that. She’s become such a mental health advocate since then, and it makes me sad that she’s said that she feels responsible for a lot of the stigma toward mental illness in pop culture because of her portrayal of Alex. She’s also said that she felt that it would be interesting to literally tell the exact same story, but from Alex’s point of view, and I kind of sparked to that.”
Cunningham added, “We want to entertain people who are familiar with the touchstones of the original movie, but also people who have no idea what it is. If people are interested, we want them to be able to jump in and enjoy it for its own merits, even if they don’t have context for bunny boiling.”
Stay tuned for details on Fatal Attraction before it lands on Paramount+ in early 2023.
Are you looking forward to the new series? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaughย directly on Twitterย to talk all things Star Wars and horror!
