Class is back in session as Netflix's breakout series Heartbreak High returns for a second term.
The Netflix series is a reboot of the beloved ABC teen drama and became nothing short of a sensation upon its debut in 2022. From countless TikToks celebrating the show to the Australian cast becoming instant international celebs, Heartbreak High proved to resonate just as much with teens today as it did back in the '90s.
Season one introduced viewers to a new class of Hartley High students, as it tackled subjects like consent, racism and sexual identity. Season two will rejoin the students of the “lowest ranking school in the district" who now have some fresh faces in the school, a new sports teacher and our fave messy protagonist, Amerie, has a new enemy.
To catch up on what to expect from season two, we sat down with the series' stars: Ayesha Madon (Amerie), Chloé Hayden (Quinni), Thomas Weatherall (Malakai), James Majoos (Darren), Asher Yasbincek (Harper) and Will McDonald (Cash).
The cast promised that season two will come will big changes.
"Season two is very different," Weatherall teased. "But it's kind of season one just amplified tenfold in every possible way. It's dark. It's more serious. It's more suspenseful, but then it's equally more batshit absurd than the first one dreamt of being. They've kept the same sort of foundations and just kind of let loose even more than the first season."
McDonald added that along with some of the darker subjects, the second term will also be even funnier. "We're leaning into the comedy a lot more. I think we've kind of found what the tone of the show is in terms of the sort of crazy, chaotic, funny elements of the show has just been like dialed up to 11," he said.
Watch the trailer for season two. Post continues after video.
Madon agrees that the new season is even "funnier" than the last. "The writers have somehow managed to further refine these characters and bring out their our own individual senses of humour in the script."
As someone who has previewed the entire new season, there's definitely an extra layer of silliness to it that might surprise fans of the original season. "It's camp and it's fun while still having that heart of it that captured people in the first place," Hayden said.
But overall, Heartbreak High still feels like the first season but with more nuance. "The show does mature episodically," Majoos added. "But all of that said, it's still the same show that people love just dialed up a good notch."
The season is filled with shocking moments as most episodes are left on a cliffhanger. "There's a lot of characters doing things you would have never have expected them do before," McDonald said.
"There's one particular sort of sequence of events when everyone's on school camp, which is pretty wild." I can vouch for this, the school camp episode will have everyone in stitches.
"It's pretty gnarly," Hayden adds. "You don't have much time to breathe between shocking moments — it's so much fun."
Along with some new twists and turns, the series will also feature a delightful nod back to the old series. "We have some awesome character crossovers from the original which I loved because they're so seasoned," Madon said. "They're the reason we are here now so it's always really special when we get an original come in."
McDonald spilled the beans on one scene which will mention eternal '90s heartthrob, Callan Mulvey's Drazic.
"I particularly like one really, really funny scene," he recalled. "There's this lunch event thing that the candidates for school captain have to go to schmooze with these people who are going to donate to their campaigns.
"Amerie talks to this one woman in particular... at the end, she gets up and she pulls her friend aside and says 'Do not let me call Drazic tonight, he phoned me the other night'... and reveals she's a former Hartley student."
Okay even I missed this callback, I'm obsessed.
Season two of Heartbreak High drops on Netflix on April 11.
Feature image: Netflix.