HBO Max orders new Degrassi series

The one factor everybody is aware of about Degrassi is it goes there. On this occasion, the “it” in query is a brand new iteration of the long-running teen collection and the “there” is HBO Max. On Thursday, the streamer introduced they’d ordered a brand new Degrassi collection from The Daring Sort’s Lara Azzopardi and Riverdale’s Julia Cohen. The ten-episode present is predicted to premiere in 2023.

HBO Max’s Degrassi is the sixth collection inside the Canadian franchise, which launched with The Children of Degrassi Road in 1979. Degrassi Junior Excessive (1987), Degrassi Excessive (1989), Degrassi: The Subsequent Era (2001), and Degrassi: Subsequent Class (2016) adopted, however the world has sadly been Degrassi­-less since Subsequent Class wrapped in 2017.

The franchise is understood for being soapy “edutainment” that explores an unlimited vary of teenage experiences, from moist goals to doxing to strutting round faculty in a visual thong as a part of a private rebrand. However there are already indicators that HBO Max’s Degrassi goes to be a bit totally different.

In a press release from Azzopardi and Cohen, the pair share their plan to show Degrassi “into a very serialized one-hour drama.” Earlier iterations of Degrassi had been serialized however balanced out by Very Particular Episode tales, a few of which did get very critical (JT is murdered at a celebration) however lots of which had been delightfully foolish (Spinner will get a boner in school). It seems like this new Degrassi could lean extra into the franchise’s dramatic parts and transfer away from the earlier collection’ “the extra you realize” vibes. This will surely match the tone of the primary promotional picture for the collection, which is a great distance from the poppy colours and playful typography of earlier promos.

HBO Max

The log line for the brand new collection provides a touch as to what a extra serialized, dramatized Degrassi will seem like: “Set in Toronto, the brand new collection explores a gaggle of youngsters and college college dwelling within the shadow of occasions that each bind them collectively and tear them aside. The present travels deep into the hearts and houses of numerous, difficult characters, as they wrestle to search out their new regular, reaching for hope, redemption and love.”

No matter the brand new Degrassi evolution appears to be like like, it does have the blessing of two key members of the franchise’s authentic artistic workforce, creator Linda Schuyler and govt producer Stephen Stohn. On Thursday afternoon, Stohn tweeted that he and Schuyler had been excited “to go the baton over to Lara Azzopardi and Julia Cohen,” with whom they beforehand labored when the pair had been writers on Degrassi: The Subsequent Era.

And for many who merely lengthy for authentic Degrassi taste, all 14 seasons of Degrassi: The Subsequent Era — often known as the collection with Drake and Nina Dobrev — shall be heading to HBO Max this spring. Meaning you’ll now not should depend on YouTube everytime you wish to revisit your previous crush, Craig Manning (Jake Epstein), or cringe each time Emma (Miriam McDonald) does mainly something.

The brand new Degrassi will premiere on HBO Max in 2023. Degrassi: The Subsequent Era shall be out there to stream on the service this spring.