Watching Netflix’s The Scandal and thinking:
“Wait… why does this story feel so familiar?”
You’re not imagining it.
The new Korean series starring Son Ye-jin, Ji Chang-wook, and NANA is part of a story that has been reinvented for more than two centuries.
Is The Scandal Based on Cruel Intentions?
Not exactly.
But there is a reason American viewers may immediately think of Cruel Intentions.
Netflix says The Scandal reimagines Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 French novel Dangerous Liaisons in Joseon-era Korea.
And Cruel Intentions comes from the same literary DNA.
That connection is already confusing some viewers. On Reddit, after seeing The Scandal trailer, one viewer asked whether it was based on Cruel Intentions. Others quickly pointed them back to Dangerous Liaisons.
So the family tree looks something like this:
Dangerous Liaisons (1782)
↓
Numerous film and TV adaptations
↓
Untold Scandal (Korea, 2003)
↓
The Scandal (Netflix, 2026)
The 2003 Korean film Untold Scandal also relocated the story to historical Korea, something Reddit viewers immediately recognized when Netflix first revealed the new series.
So What Makes the Netflix Version Different?
This time, the dangerous game unfolds as an eight-episode Korean series rather than a single film. Netflix released all eight episodes on September 18.
At the center are three people:
Lady Cho (Son Ye-jin) — an intelligent noblewoman constrained by Joseon society.
Cho Won (Ji Chang-wook) — a notorious seducer who accepts her dangerous challenge.
Hui-yeon (NANA) — a virtuous widow who becomes the target of their game.
What begins as a wager gradually becomes something much more dangerous when manipulation and real emotion start colliding.
Why It Feels Familiar — but Still Korean
That may be the most interesting thing about The Scandal.
The skeleton of the story is centuries old.
But putting desire, reputation and sexual power inside the rigid social rules of Joseon changes the stakes.
So if you watched The Scandal and thought,
“I swear I’ve seen this story before…”
you probably have.
Just not quite like this.