''Grand Army'' is an American

teen drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...

series created by Katie Cappiello that premiered on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

on October 16, 2020. It is loosely based on Cappiello's '' Slut: The Play''. In June 2021, the series was canceled after one season.

Premise

The series follows the lives of Joey Del Marco, Dom Pierre, Sid Pakam, Jayson Jackson, and Leila Kwan Zimmer at

Grand Army Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and ...

High School, a public high school, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. The students wrestle variously with challenges including rape culture, racism, sexual identity, bullying, violence, and terrorism.

Cast

Main

* Odessa A'zion as Joey Del Marco, a high school junior from Stuyvesant Town who is also on the school's dance team *Odley Jean as Dominique "Dom" Pierre, a

Haitian-American Haitian Americans (french: Haïtiens-Américains; ht, ayisyen ameriken) are a group of Americans of full or partial Haitian origin or descent. The largest proportion of Haitians in the United States live in Little Haiti to the South Florida are ...

high school junior from East New York who is also on the school's women's basketball team. * Amir Bageria as Siddhartha "Sid" Pakam, a closeted gay

Indian-American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred t ...

high school senior from Jackson Heights who is on the school's swim team *

Maliq Johnson Maliq Akil Johnson (born June 22, 2000) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Jayson Jackson in the Netflix series ''Grand Army''. His films include ''Little Boxes'', ''Little Men'', and '' Knucklehead''. Early life Johnson was born ...

as Jayson Jackson, an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

high school sophomore from

Spanish Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fi ...

*Amalia Yoo as Leila Kwan Zimmer, a Chinese-American high school freshman from the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

who was adopted by a Jewish Caucasian couple when she was a baby *Alphonso Romero Jones, II as John Ellis, Dom's love interest *Thelonius Serrell-Freed as Tim Delaney, one of Joey's friends *Anthony Ippolito as George Wright, one of Joey's friends who is on the Grand Army High School's swim team *Brian Altemus as Luke Friedman, one of Joey's friends who is on the Grand Army High School's swim team

Recurring

Sydney Meyer Sydney M. Meyer (born 15 September 1995) is a Canadian actress. She starred in the Netflix series ''V Wars'' and Shudder’s '' Slasher: Flesh & Blood''. Her other television work includes the third season of the Freeform series '' Shadowhunter ...

as Anna Delaney, Joey's best friend and Tim's younger sister *

Keara Graves Keara Kristen Graves (born 26 April 1999) is a Canadian actress, YouTuber, and singer. They gained prominence through their role on the Family Channel musical series ''Lost & Found Music Studios''. Early and personal life Graves was born in S ...

as Grace, Joey's other best friend who is on the school dance team with her *Jaden Jordan as Owen Williams, Jayson's best friend *Brittany Adebumola as Tamika Jones, Dom's best friend who is on the women's basketball team with her *Naiya Ortiz as Sonia Cruz, Dom's other best friend, also on the women's basketball team with her *Crystal Nelson as Tor Sampson, Dom's other best friend who is also on the women's basketball team with her *Ashley Ganger as Meera Pakam, Sid's younger sister *Marcela Avelina as Flora Mejia, Sid's girlfriend *Lola Blackman as Rachel Finer, Leila's best friend *Lindsay Wu as Wendi, Leila's classmate *Tiffany Tong as Mei, Leila's classmate *Jennifer Tong as Su, Leila's classmate *David Iacono as Bo Orlov, Sid's rival teammate *Micah Solis as Nick Rodriguez *Diego Martinez-Tau as Chris Yoon *Cole Bullock as Dante Pierre, Dom's eldest nephew *Mercedes Slater as Odette Pierre, Dom's niece *Osias Reid as Tristian Pierre, Dom's younger nephew *Rachel Boyd as Natalie *Kelsey Falconer as Christina *Alex Castillo as Ms. Lisa Gonzalez *Jason Weinberg as Principal Michael Metta, Grand Army High School's principal * Katie Griffin as Rebecca Connely, Joey's mother *August Blanco Rosenstein as Victor Borin, an out bi student college essay tutor who helps Sid and also a classmate *Magaly Colimon as Antoinette Pierre, Dom's mother *Rod Wilson as Matt Del Marco, Joey's father *Ava Preston as Nina Del Marco, Joey's younger sister *Deanna Interbartolo as Frankie Del Marco, Joey's youngest sister *Michael Brown as Shawn Jackson, Jayson's father *Raven Dauda as Nicole Jackson, Jayson's mother *

Geoffrey Pounsett ''It'' (titled onscreen as ''It Chapter One'') is a 2017 American supernatural horror film directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman. The film was produced by New Line Cinema, KatzSmith Produc ...

as Mr. Knight, Jayson's music teacher at Grand Army High School *Lynn Weintraub as Rabbi Sadie Schultz *Zac Kara as Omar Biller, drama club member and assistant director to Meera's play *

Sagine Sémajuste Sagine Sémajuste is a Haitian Canadian actress and dancer. She is best known for her recurring roles as Farah in the television series '' 19-2'', and Sabine in the television series ''Grand Army''. She has also appeared in the films '' Mahalia ...

as Sabine Pierre, Dom's older sister

Episodes

Production

Development

It was announced in October 2019 that Netflix had ordered a 10-episode adaptation of Katie Cappiello's 2013 play, one that expands on the original work. The storylines are based on real life stories from her students. On June 17, 2021, Netflix canceled the series after one season.

Controversy

On the day of the teaser release, writer Ming Peiffer stated on Twitter that she and two other writers of color had quit the project, citing racist exploitation and abuse allegations against one of the creators.

Casting

It was announced Odessa A'zion would play Joey Del Marco and Amalia Yoo would reprise her role from the stage production as Leila Kwan Zimmer. Also joining the main cast are

, Amir Bageria, and Odley Jean.

Filming

Principal photography took place in both

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

from May to September 2019, with most indoor scenes in Toronto and most outdoor and subway scenes in New York City.

Release

The teaser was released as well as first look images in September 2020, followed by a full trailer in October. Fahamu Pecou painted the promotional artwork for the posters. The series premiered on October 16, 2020 with 9 episodes instead of the original order of 10 episodes.

Reception

For the series, review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

reported an approval rating of 71% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 7.34/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Grand Army'' is an excellent showcase for its exciting cast of newcomers—even if its attempt at an honest approach to adolescence is too overwrought to make an impact."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

gave the series a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In 2021, Ashley Ganger gave an interview for

Vanity Teen ''Vanity Teen'' is an independent biannual fashion magazine based in New York, United States and London, United Kingdom, edited by Toni Pérez and Luis Alonso Murillo. It features young artists' work of new models from agencies around the wor ...

magazine, following her appearance on the series, talking about her personal journey and the social influence of the series. Kristen Baldwin of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' gave the series a B- and described the series as "ambitious, often to a fault. Still, there are flashes of beauty—let me say again, Odley Jean is a revelation—amid the gritty teen boilerplate." Reviewing the series for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', Alan Sepinwall gave it 4 out of 5 stars and said, "In its best moments, ''Grand Army'' enters rare air for high school shows, elevating surprisingly close to the genre's thoughtful standard-bearer, '' My So-Called Life''."

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original ended series (2019–present) 2020 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2020s American high school television series 2020s American LGBT-related drama television series 2020s American teen drama television series English-language Netflix original programming Rape in television Television series about teenagers Television series based on plays Television shows filmed in Toronto Television shows filmed in New York City Television shows set in New York City