Cruel Intentions' John Harlan Kim Tried to Tell Reese Witherspoon He Was Cast in TV Reboot But Faced '200 Security Guards': 'She's Royalty' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

John Harlan Kim (left); Reese Witherspoon.Photo:Tommaso Boddi/Variety via Getty; TheStewartofNY/WireImage

Tommaso Boddi/Variety via Getty; TheStewartofNY/WireImage

John Harlan Kim tried his best to have a moment withReese Witherspoonbefore he joinedtheCruel Intentionsreboot series, but the actress was just out of his reach.

The 31-year-old Australian actor, who plays Blaise in the Prime Video series, which premiered Nov. 21, worked with Witherspoon, 48, previously, but not close enough to be able to bond with her over the project they’d come to share.

“The week before I was due to come [on set], I was on a red carpet,” Kim tells PEOPLE. “Reese Witherspoon was my boss on a previous show, and so I was going to be like, ‘Hey!’ But there was about 200 security guards between me and her.”

“I got through 199 of them,” he jokes. “As I said, ‘Cruel Intentions,’ and then, [I got] the hand over the mouth.”

He’s not holding any grudges over it, though. “She’s royalty. I get it.”

John Harlan Kim as Blaise Powell and Khobe Clarke as Scott Russell in ‘Cruel Intentions’.Courtesy of Amazon

Courtesy of Amazon

Kim, who has starred previously on9-1-1,the CW’sNancy DrewandJennifer Garner’sThe Last Thing He Told Me— where he overlapped with Witherspoon — says that being part of the reboot series is “a real privilege” givenhow iconic the original 1999 movie was at the time — and still is.

“I think when you have something that’s so iconic and as beloved asCruel Intentions, to be invited into that world and to try and carve a little slice of your own part of that out has been a real privilege,” he says.

“We’ve timed it well, I think. 25 years later on is the perfect amount of time passing. You still have the original fans out there lurking, and you have a whole generation of people who have never even heard of it, which makes some people feel old. But I think we’ve timed it well.”

Speaking to what it was like taking on the role of Blaise, a major player in a fraternity being investigated for a hazing incident the previous year who has a close relationship with Scott (Khobe Clark) that evolves throughout the season, Kim teases, “We go on this wild journey where there’s a twist and turn in every episode, and you think it’s good, then it’s not, then you think it’s bad, then it’s not.”

John Harlan Kim as Blaise Powell, John Harlan Kim as Blaise Powell in ‘Cruel Intentions’.Courtesy of Amazon

“To go on that ride with Khobe was a true joy,” he says of his costar. “I had a great time on the show.”

The reboot series takes place at an elite college outside Washington, D.C., where the offspring of the nation’s richest and most powerful are always up to no good.

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Cruel Intentionsis now streaming on Prime Video.

source: people.com