In a world that’s taken with the likes of Euphoria and Normal People, it seems about time that Australia would be getting its own edgy teen show.
But instead of re-inventing the wheel, we’re instead looking back, and rebooting an old favourite in Heartbreak High, which has been created by Netflix for a 2022 release.
While we don’t know too much about the highly anticipated show just yet, we have had the occasional photo and press release drip-fed to us as we’ve anxiously awaited more news.
What we do know is that creative powerhouse Ayesha Madon will be at the helm of the show. An actress and musician who’s still only in her early 20s, Ayesha is ready to champion the next generation of Hartley High students.
“I play a character called Amerie, who quite quickly becomes a pariah at her school over a social rift with her best friend Harper, who is played by Asher Yasbincek,” Ayesha tells WHO over the phone, explaining her role in the upcoming show.
“The series kind of just charts her journey in dealing with that and coming into her own over the course of the series.
“It’s a coming of age journey,” she confirms.
While the old Heartbreak High followed a whole number of characters across the course of seven seasons, the reboot will begin with an eight-episode run, focusing primarily on Amerie and the group around her.
When asked for her thoughts on the back catalogue of 210 episodes, Ayesha laughs.
“I started watching the original Heartbreak High and there were just so many episodes,” she reflects.
“I couldn’t get through … I didn’t have enough time in the day,” she laughs.
“But I did watch the original, parts of it, and I think the show we have now has the same kind of cutting-edge essence that the old one did. So yeah, hopefully that translates.”
While teen dramas weren’t a new concept in the 1990s, Heartbreak High is remembered as grittier and more transgressive than its contemporaries, making it the perfect show for a reboot in 2022.
While the original dealt with themes of racial tension, sex, teen pregnancy, alcohol and drug-taking, the reboot will explore sexuality, gender identity, Indigeneity, involvement with drugs and performative wokeness, as well as the relationships among the teens of Hartley High.
“It’s definitely a different generation, which is quite beautiful” Ayesha says of the updated series.
“I guess you’ll be able to see the shift, but I guess the main kind of values of the old show have remained the same, so that’s exciting.”
Aside from acting, Ayesha remains dedicated to championing her generation and the causes close to her heart, which meant teaming up with Bonds for the launch of their new period undies was the perfect project.
“The Bonds Class of ’22 is kind of all about giving voice to a new generation of young people with periods,” she explains of the campaign.
“It’s bold, it’s united, it’s about individuality within friendships, and openness and acceptance, and abandoning the taboo,” she tells us.
Ayesha teamed up with Australian rapper Tkay Maidza, model and activist Mahalia Handley, non-binary environmentalist Daila Melkins, and model Dechen Grenfell for the project – creating the friendship group of Gen-Z dreams.
“It really forges a new unapologetic way of coming of age that I suppose historically has not been the case with people with periods,” Ayesha reflects.
“And I’m also just so in awe of the other four incredible women in the Class of ’22!” she says.
You can grab a pair of Bonds Bloody Comfy Period Undies here!
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