“Heartbreak High” will have its global premiere on Netflix on Sept. 14.
The show is billed as “an all-new Australian drama inspired by the original ’90s series, but totally reimagined for a new generation”.
The original ran for seven seasons and was broadcast in over 70 countries including the U.K., U.S., Germany, Argentina, Mexico, India and Indonesia.
Hannah Carroll Chapman, the creator of the new iteration of the show, said she was inspired by the original series, but the new version had since taken on a life of its own.
“I was so obsessed with “Heartbreak High”… It’s iconic. The characters were so memorable… And it was so Australian. It was so particularly Australian – of us,” she said earlier this year at the Screen Forever conference.
“I think part of the thing that we thought a lot about in terms of the original, was that it was chaotic and also hopeful and something – it was a world in which you wanted as a young person to live in. And we wanted to capture the essence of that.
“I think when we first started putting it together, we wanted a huge amount of legacy characters and I think we’ve moved a bit away from that. I mean there still are, but we also, in talking to Netflix and Fremantle, we wanted this to be its own show that belonged to teens, that wasn’t just this show that exists for old-school fans.
“So I’m hoping that there’s a nice balance there, that people who love the original show feel the essence of that show and have these nice Easter eggs popping up, but that it’s very much for a younger generation.”
Carly Heaton, the creative director for scripted content at Fremantle, said, similar to the original, this version of “Heartbreak High” will deftly walk a fine line between aspiration and authenticity.
“The original was so hopeful, and we spoke about that in our duty of care, there is so much going on in the world that we have a duty of care to ensure that we are producing a big of light at the end of the tunnel,” she added.
“The original did that really well. It touched on really dark stuff, but it came back to being hopeful and Australian… Hannah came up with a really great phrase ‘It’s funny ’til it’s not, then it’s funny again.’ And that was a touchstone we kept coming back to over and over again.”
A synopsis for the new show has given a teaser of what could be in store for Season 1.
“A discovery makes Amerie 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,” Netflix revealed.
