Netflix’s Heartbreak High reboot was announced almost a year ago now, and finally, we have a cast to match and a trailer to show us what’s to come from the re-imagined show.
The reboot, which will drop on September 14, 2022, looks every bit as gritty and fun as we expected, with the first trailer dropping just six weeks prior to the show’s release.
The students of Hartley High are seen living in what resembles a technicolour dreamscape, with serious moments interspersed. We see fighting, we see a major car crash, and we see a Barbie-pink dildo flop on a table.
And just like that, we’re completely reassured the new series, with its modern spin, will contain all the heart of the original.
The reboot has been in the work for some time now. Que Minh Lu, Netflix’s director of originals in Australia, announced the series as the first secured commission for the local production arm of Netflix back in December 2021.
“Don’t worry, we won’t f**k it up,” she reassured fans of the 1990s series.
“It’s not just that Heartbreak High was popular, it’s that it meant something,” she told The Guardian.
“For me, being a kid of the 90s, loving the show, I think it was the first time you felt like a show understood you,” she added.
“It was cool and mature, the tone was really sexy and provocative, and kind of aggressive.”
“So, what does that translate to in 2022? And from our point of view, things like honesty, diversity and maturity is base level … I think that’s just par for the course,” Que continued.
“We couldn’t be more stoked to be starting production on a show that means so much to so many of us, with a cohort of such incredible breakthrough talent stepping up both on screen and off. Teenage (and adult) me would be equally thrilled to be friends with or socially rejected by this outrageously talented cast.”
The early synopsis given introduced us to four core characters, beginning with Amerie, who becomes an “instant pariah at Hartley High, and causes a mysterious and very public rift with her ride-or-die, Harper.”
“With her new friends – outsiders Quinni and Darren – Amerie must repair her reputation, while navigating love, sex, and heartbreak.”
RELATED: Where are the original Heartbreak High stars now?
Which actors have been cast in Netflix’s Heartbreak High reboot?
Amerie will be played by Ayesha Madon, who has worked in theatre and other smaller projects in the past, namely The Moth Effect, Fangirls, and Romeo and Juliet. Her character is described as whip-smart and outwardly brash, a working-class girl with an “enormous heart and an even bigger mouth.”
“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,” Ayesha revealed to WHO earlier this year.
Amerie’s new friends, Darren and Quinni are portrayed respectively by James Majoos and Chloe Hayden. Quinni, an autistic character, will be well-represented by Chloe, who is also autistic and has ADHD.
Harper, Amerie’s ‘ride-or-die’, will be portrayed by Asher Yasbincek, who has previously starred in The Heights, Rams, and How to Please a Woman.
The series will also star local Aussie talent Josh Heuston, Thomas Weatherall, Will McDonald, Gemma Chua-Tran, Chika Ikogwe, Sherry-Lee Watson, Bryn Chapman-Parish and Brodie Townsend.
Rachel House, who is best known for her comedic roles in the likes of Thor: Ragnarok and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, will also be joining the case as ‘Woodsy’, the principal at Hartley High, who likes to think of herself as ‘woke’, but is described as more of a ‘Karen’ by her students.
Chris Oliver-Taylor and Carly Heaton will join the team as executive producers for Fremantle, and have said that “Heartbreak High allowed a generation of Aussie teens, us included, to see themselves represented on TV for the first time, it was brash, fun, uniquely Australian and an international hit”.
“Through our great partnership with Netflix and our amazing cast and crew we can’t wait to take Australia to the world once again.”
As it debuts in Australia, the show will also be available globally via Netflix.
WATCH BELOW: Watch Ada Nicodemou on Heartbreak high.
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