We made it through!
After 5 years of hoping and praying for Degrassi to come back, we finally have an official announcement that a new Degrassi series is in the works at HBO Max. I couldn’t be more excited! There are a lot of questions still, but we did get some interesting information from the press release. This post is going to be a summary of everything we know so far, as well as the questions we’re still wondering about.
Everything We Know So Far
Long-time Degrassi Executive Producers Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn are stepping aside. This is not surprising as they are essentially retired, and a lot of fans assumed they wouldn’t be interested in coming back as full-time producers. Instead, the showrunners for the new Degrassi series are Lara Azzopardi and Julia Cohen. Lara and Julia are both Canadian, but they are currently based in LA. Lara is best known for her work on Canadian TV series like Backstage and Mary Kills People. Julia is known for A Million Little Things, Quantico and Riverdale. They actually both have some Degrassi experience. Together they co-wrote the Degrassi: The Next Generation Season 8 episode “Heat of the Moment.”
This new Degrassi series will air on HBO Max. While some fans are worried that this might turn Degrassi into a more adult teen drama like Euphoria, it seems unlikely. The press release made it clear that Degrassi will be part of HBO Max’s Family division. Therefore likely Degrassi will remain a children’s/teen show.
The new series is literally just titled Degrassi. So there will be no tagline like Degrassi: The Next Generation or Degrassi: Next Class.
The first season will include 10 episodes, each of which will be an hour long. This will be the first time in Degrassi’s history that they’ve done hour-long episodes (aside from special 2-parters). It will be very interesting to see how this changes the format and pacing of the show.
Although this is not 100% confirmed, we are assuming that the episodes will be released weekly instead of all at once since this is how HBO Max releases most of their series. This is welcome news for fans who felt like the Degrassi fan experience was diminished when we were watching full seasons of Degrassi: Next Class all at once.
The new series will premiere sometime in 2023. We don’t yet know exactly when, but my guess is that it will be within the first quarter.
Filming will take place in Toronto this summer. Since WildBrain sold the Degrassi: The Next Generation set a few years back, we don’t know exactly where this new series will be filmed. I would like to see it filmed at a real school, but they might film it on a set like they did during the TNG era.
The press release is also very clear that this new series will be set in Toronto. This is a welcome relief for those who were worried about Degrassi becoming too American or straying too far from its roots.
The press release also included a very generic description which reads: “A reprise of the original teen drama, Degrassi is a character-driven series about the high school experience and the thrilling, often painful journey of self-discovery. Set in Toronto, the new series explores a group of teenagers and school faculty living in the shadow of events that both bind them together and tear them apart. The show travels deep into the hearts and homes of diverse, complicated characters, as they struggle to find their new normal, reaching for hope, redemption and love.” The most interesting part of this paragraph to me is the mention of “school faculty” in addition to the students. This strongly suggests that we will see characters from Degrassi: The Next Generation as teachers in this new Degrassi series.
Another quote that I think is interesting: “Stephanie Betts, our Chief Content Officer, along with showrunners, Lara Azzopardi and Julia Cohen, have envisioned an evolution for Degrassi that, while staying true to the fundamental honesty, humanity and integrity of the brand, promises fans a journey into exciting new territory, both creatively and dramatically.” This acknowledges that they are trying to stay true to the heart of the series, while revamping it for a new generation. Maintaining this balance will be critical to Degrassi’s success.
In addition to the new Degrassi, HBO Max now has the US rights to Degrassi: The Next Generation. All 14 seasons will be available on HBO Max later this spring.
Questions We Still Have
Who (if anyone) from the previous Degrassi series will be involved? We know Linda and Stephen are not involved (at least not in any official capacity). But there are still questions about the involvement of people like Stefan Brogren, writers from the Degrassi: The Next Generation era, and former cast members. Many of them have been strangely quiet so far…
Which network/streamer will air this new Degrassi series in Canada? Most of us think it will be Crave, since they carry most HBO Max programming. But an article from The Canadian Press stated that “plans to make Degrassi available to Canadian viewers are still being ironed out.”
How Canadian will this new series be? In the past, Degrassi has always been 100% Canadian. This meant that all cast, writers, producers had to be Canadian citizens. We know that the new series will be filmed in Canada and that the showrunners are Canadian, but we haven’t heard if they will be open to hiring Americans to work on the show as well.
Will they keep the “Whatever It Takes” theme song? The theme song is very important to a lot of people. Most of us remember the outrage amongst fans when they shortened it in Season 13 and 14. It will be interesting to see if the theme song will be the same or something entirely new.
What will the budget be? I don’t expect us to ever get an actual number. But one of the challenges that Degrassi: Next Class had was that they were trying to make a Netflix show on a Family Channel budget. Will HBO Max give them more leeway, and perhaps allow them more time to film each episode? Filming an episode in only a few days has been difficult for Degrassi in the past.
How many characters will there be? Degrassi has always had an ensemble cast. Will this new series maintain that tradition, or will the format of 10 hour-long episodes force them to have only 4-6 main characters?
What will the format be like? Since the 1980s, Degrassi has always had the same “after school special” type of format of 2-3 storylines in every 25 minute episode. Will they try to adapt that to suit an hour-long episode, or do something completely different?
Lots of questions still remain, but overall I’m feeling optimistic based on what we know so far. I’m sure as 2022 goes on, we will learn a lot more about this new Degrassi series. I can’t wait!
