''Heartbreak High'' is an Australian

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television series created for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, by Hannah Carroll Chapman. It is a soft reboot of the 1994 series first screened on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

. The series follows the students and teachers of Hartley High as they navigate racial tensions in Australia, high school romances, and all sorts of teen angst. It features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

including

Ayesha Madon Ayesha Madon (born 10 February 1998) is an Australian actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Amerie Wadia in the Netflix comedy drama series ''Heartbreak High'' (2022present), for which she received nominations for an AACTA Awar ...

Thomas Weatherall Thomas Weatherall (born 22 August 2000) is an Australian actor and playwright. He is known for his performances in the television series '' RFDS'' (2019–2021) and ''Heartbreak High'' (2022), and for writing the play ''Blue'', first performe ...

, Bryn Chapman Parish, Asher Yasbincek,

James Majoos James Majoos is an Australian actor known for their role in the 2022 TV series ''Heartbreak High''. On stage, they have appeared in Sydney Theatre Company's ''Grand Horizons'' and Belvoir's '' Fangirls''. Awards For their performance i ...

, Chloé Hayden, Will McDonald, Gemma Chua-Tran, Sherry-Lee Watson, Josh Heuston, Brodie Townsend, Chika Ikogwe,

Scott Major Scott Ian Major (born 4 July 1975) is an Australian actor and TV and film director, known for his roles as Peter Rivers in the 1994 television teen drama series ''Heartbreak High'' and Lucas Fitzgerald in soap opera ''Neighbours''. After leav ...

and

Rachel House Rachel Jessica Te Ao Maarama House (born 20 October 1971) is a New Zealand actress and director. She is best known for her roles in the films of Taika Waititi. She has received numerous accolades including an Arts Laureate, NZ Order of Mer ...

. Sam Rechner, Kartanya Maynard and

Angus Sampson Angus Sampson is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his performances as Tucker in the ''Insidious'' film series, Ray Jenkins in ''The Mule'' (2014), The Organic Mechanic in '' Mad Max: Fury Road'' (2015) and '' Furiosa: A M ...

joined the series in its second season. ''Heartbreak High'' premiered on Netflix on 14 September 2022. The following month, it was renewed for a second season, which premiered on 11 April 2024. Production for the third and final season began in November 2024. The first season received universal acclaim from critics, while the second season divided critics and audiences. The performances and costumes in both seasons were met with praise. It has received numerous accolades, including an

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York City, New York–based International Academy of Televisi ...

and six

AACTA Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the cinema of Australia, film and ...

(of 15 nominations).

Premise

Season 1

After a detailed diagram of which students have been sexually involved is discovered graffitied on the wall of the school, all of the students whose names were on it are forced to attend a new

sexual education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth control, sexual healt ...

course called the Sexual Literacy Tutorial (SLT, pronounced "

slut ''Slut (archaic: slattern)'' is an English-language term for a person, usually a woman, who is sexually promiscuous or considered to have loose sexual morals. It is predominately used as an insult, sexual slur or offensive term of disparageme ...

s" by the students). The map's creator, Amerie Wadia (

), becomes a social outcast after taking the fall for its co-author, Harper McLean ( Asher Yasbincek), who has stopped talking to her following a tragedy at a music festival they attended, later Amerie learns that Harper was kidnapped after the music festival by Chook's crew. Ca$h ( Will McDonald), a mate of Harper who's part of Chook's gang, helps her escape. She couldn't stay at Amerie's house for support as she was busy, hence why she hates her. Amerie and Harper make up and most of the gang gets arrested. Quinni's ( Chloé Hayden) relationship with Sasha (Gemma Chua-Tran) would have lasted longer if Sasha wasn't so rude to her.

Season 2

Someone dubbed "Bird Psycho" has been wrecking Amerie's reputation, Quinni helps investigate who it is and they find out it's Rowan, who was getting revenge on Amerie for something that happened when they were kids. Harper hasn't been getting into relationships after the kidnapping but she eventually dates Anthony. Amerie wants to date Malakai Mitchell (

) but Malakai is finding out if he is

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

, Malakai dates Rowan for a bit, they break up and Malakai leaves to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. Spider starts dating Missy. Quinni has been unmasking her autistic traits and later wins for

school captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. Ca$h who has been let out of jail tries to avoid the gang but the leader Chook tries to get in contact with him throughout the season.

Cast

Main

as Amerie Wadia, a brash,

working-class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

Indian-Australian student who becomes a pariah *

as Malakai Mitchell, a

Bundjalung basketball jock new to Hartley * Bryn Chapman Parish as Spencer 'Spider' White, the class clown * Asher Yasbincek as Harper McLean, Amerie's best friend who falls out with her in episode 1 *

as Darren Rivers, a

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

and

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

student who befriends Amerie. * Chloé Hayden as Quinn 'Quinni' Gallagher-Jones, Darren's

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

best friend who is

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

. * Will McDonald as Douglas 'Ca$h' Piggott, an

asexual Asexual or Asexuals may refer to: *Asexual reproduction **Asexual reproduction in starfish *Asexuality, the lack of sexual attraction to anyone or lack of interest in or desire for sexual activity. **Gray asexuality, the spectrum between asexualit ...

eshay Eshay () is a slang expression associated with an Australian urban youth subculture that originated from Western Sydney in the late 1980s, but has brought into the mainstream since the late 2010s and the 2020s. In New Zealand, "hoodrats" are a ...

, drug dealer and food delivery driver * Gemma Chua-Tran as Sasha So, a

Chinese-Australian Chinese Australians () are Australians of Chinese origin. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Chinese diaspora, and are the largest Asian Australian community. Per capita, Australia has more people of Chines ...

lesbian * Sherry-Lee Watson as Missy Beckett, a bisexual

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

student who used to be involved with Sasha *

Joshua Heuston Joshua Heuston (born 18 November 1996) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles in the Australian television series ''Dive Club'' (2021), ''More Than This'', ''Heartbreak High'' and '' Bali 2002'' (all three 2022); as well as for ...

as Dustin 'Dusty' Reid, a bisexual musician involved with Harper (season 1; guest season 2) * Brodie Townsend as Anthony 'Ant' Vaughn, an affable, big-hearted student * Chika Ikogwe as Josephine 'Jojo' Obah, English and SLT's teacher *

as Peter Rivers, Darren's father (reprising his role from the 1994 series) (season 1) *

as Principal Stacy 'Woodsy' Woods, the performatively

woke ''Woke'' is an adjective derived from African-American English used since the 1930s or earlier to refer to awareness of racial prejudice and Racial discrimination, discrimination, often in the construction ''stay woke''. The term acquired p ...

school principal * Sam Rechner as Rowan Callaghan, a bisexual country boy from

Dubbo Dubbo (; ) is a city in the Orana (New South Wales), Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the ...

new to Hartley High (season 2) * Kartanya Maynard as Zoe Clarke, an

student and Missy's cousin (season 2) *

as Timothy Voss, a 'pro-male' mysognistic sports teacher (season 2)

Recurring and notable guest stars

* Isabella Gutierrez as Chaka Cardenes (reprising her role from the 1994 series) *

Ben Oxenbould Ben Oxenbould is an Australian actor and comedian. His brother Jamie Oxenbould is also an actor, as is Jamie's son, Ed Oxenbould. Early career He was educated at North Sydney Boys High School. In 1980, Oxenbould was cast as "Hubert 'Fatty' F ...

as Justin McLean, Harper's dad (season 1) * Justin Smith as Jim the Maintenance Man (season 1) * Sandy Sharma as Huma Wadia, Amerie's mother * Tom Wilson as Chook, leader of the eshays and Ca$h's friend * Kye McMaster as Tilla, Ca$h's friend * Ari McCarthy as Jayden, Ca$h's friend *

Maggie Dence Margaret Helen Dence (born 1 February 1942) is an Australian actress of stage and screen, with a career spanning some seven decades. She is equally at home in both comedy and drama roles. Dence is best known to early audiences for her roles i ...

as Nan, Ca$h's grandmother *

Robyn Malcolm Robyn Jane Malcolm (born 1965) is a New Zealand actress, who first gained recognition for her role as nurse Ellen Crozier on the soap opera ''Shortland Street''. She is best known for playing Cheryl West, matriarch to a sometimes criminal wor ...

as Cait White, Spider's mother (season 2) *

Stephen Hunter Stephen Hunter (born March 25, 1946, in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American novelist, essayist, and film critic. Life and career Hunter was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. His father was Charles Francis Hunte ...

as Coach Arkell (season 1) *

Jeremy Lindsay Taylor Jeremy Lindsay Taylor (born Sydney, 19 September 1973) is an Australian actor. Education He finished his education at Newington College in 1991 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a major in drama and sociology, from the Univers ...

as Kurt Peterson (reprising his role from the 1994 series) (season 1) *

Natalie Tran Natalie Tran (born 24 July 1986), also known online as communitychannel, is an Australian YouTuber, actress, comedian, television presenter, and writer. On YouTube, she became known for her comedy videos in which she discusses everyday issues. ...

as Rhea Brown, a local author (season 1) * Jude Hyland as Jett Callaghan, Rowan's younger brother (season 2) *

Lara Cox Lara Jane Cox (born 1978) is an Australian actress, known for a variety of roles. Cox played the role of Anita Scheppers in ''Heartbreak High'', Doctor Denman in ''H2O: Just Add Water'', and has appeared in ''Voodoo Lagoon'' and ''Kangaroo Ja ...

as Anita Scheppers (reprising her role from the 1994 series) (season 2) * Peter Carroll as Roger (2 episodes)

Episodes

Season 1 (2022)

Season 2 (2024)

Production

The series is a soft-reboot of the 1994 series first screened on

. The series follow the students and teachers of Hartley High as they navigate racial tensions in Australia, high school romances, and all sorts of teen angst. The series was announced in December 2020. The TV series was mostly filmed in the suburbs of Maroubra and

Matraville Matraville is located in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately by road south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Randwick. History M ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

between November 2021 and February 2022. A second season was announced on 19 October 2022. Production on the second season began on 28 May 2023 and wrapped on 29 August 2023. It was released on the 11th of April 2024. A third and final season was announced on 9 May 2024. Production on the third season began on 4 November 2024 and wrapped on 6 February 2025.

Release

The first season premiered on 14 September 2022. The second season premiered on 11 April 2024.

Reception

Audience viewership

The first season of ''Heartbreak High'' debuted at number six on Netflix's Top 10 TV English titles for the tracking week of 19–25 September 2022 with 18.25 million hours viewed. On the following week, it climbed to number five and garnered 14.88 million viewing hours. The series remained in the top 10 for the third week, placing at number eight with 9.48 million viewing hours. The second season debuted at number seven on Netflix's Top 10 TV English titles for the tracking week of 8–14 April 2024 with 15.8 million hours viewed. On the following week, it climbed to number five and garnered 20 million viewing hours. On its third week, it ranked at number nine, earning 12 million viewing hours.

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

gave the first season an approval rating of 100%, based on reviews from ten critics, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The second season has an approval rating of 50%, based on reviews from six critics, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The show received praise for its racial, sexuality, gender and

neurodivergent The neurodiversity paradigm is a framework for understanding human brain function that considers the diversity within sensory processing, motor abilities, social comfort, cognition Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiri ...

representation, realism towards modern teenhood, costumes and visuals. It was also positively compared to other popular modern teen dramas (which viewers found it very similar to), including ''Euphoria'', ''Never Have I Ever'' and ''Sex Education''. Alex Henderson of ''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...

'' said that the show addressed serious topics like

substance abuse Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definition ...

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

or youth crime, but still uses comical moments and avoids

cliché A cliché ( or ; ) is a saying, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, novelty, or literal and figurative language, figurative or artistic power, even to the point of now being b ...

moments whilst showing mistakes made by the characters. Mitchell Adams of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' commented on the representation of

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

, saying "scenes where Quinni feels overwhelmed just sitting on a bus, or being at a party while forcing herself to

mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...

how she feels in order to better fit in and not upset people, depict a pain neurodivergent people know all too well". ''

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...

'' named the series as one of the best new TV shows of 2022.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original current series 2022 Australian television series debuts 2020s Australian drama television series 2020s Australian comedy television series 2020s LGBTQ-related drama television series 2020s LGBTQ-related comedy television series 2020s teen drama television series Australian comedy-drama television series Australian high school television series Australian LGBTQ-related television shows Australian teen drama television series Australian television series about teenagers Autism in television Lesbian-related television shows Television series by Fremantle (company) Australian television series reboots Australian English-language television shows Netflix television dramas Television shows set in Australia