''Grand Army'' is an American

teen drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

television series created by

Katie Cappiello Katherine "Katie" Cappiello is an American playwright, director, feminist, teacher, activist and public speaker best known for her plays ''Slut'' and ''Now That We're Men''. Gloria Steinem called ''Slut'' "truthful, raw and immediate!" and David ...

that premiered on

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 ...

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

This series follows the lives of five teenagers who attend the largest high school in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

as they navigate a chaotic world. Topics such as

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

, and

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

Cast

Main

Odessa A'zion Odessa Zion Segall Adlon (born June 17, 2000), often known as Odessa A'zion ( ), is an American actress. On television, she is known for her roles in the CBS series '' Fam'' (2019) and the Netflix series ''Grand Army'' (2020). Her films include ' ...

as Joey Del Marco, a high school junior from

Stuyvesant Town Stuyvesant may refer to: People * Stuyvesant family * Peter Stuyvesant (1592–1672), the last governor of New Netherland * Peter Stuyvesant (1727–1805), New York landowner and merchant * Peter Gerard Stuyvesant (1778–1847), lawyer, landown ...

who is also on the school's dance team *Odley Jean as Dominique "Dom" Pierre, a

Haitian-American Haitian Americans (; ; ) are a group of Americans of full or partial Haitian origin or descent. The largest population of Haitian citizens in the United States live in Little Haiti to the South Florida area. In addition, they have sizeable popu ...

high school junior from

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough line to the north; ...

who is also on the school's girls’ basketball team. * Amir Bageria as Siddhartha "Sid" Pakam, a closeted

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

Indian-American Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, who are also referred to as "Indians" or "Am ...

high school senior from

Jackson Heights Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the borough of Queens in New York City. Jackson Heights is neighbored by North Corona to the east, Elmhurst to the south, Woodside to the west, and today northern Astoria ( Ditm ...

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 b ...

as Jayson Jackson, an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

high school sophomore from

Spanish Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the east ...

*Amalia Yoo as Leila Kwan Zimmer, a

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

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 We ...

who was adopted by a Jewish 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 Meyer (born 15 September 1995) is a Canadian actress. She starred in the Netflix series '' V Wars'' (2019) and the Shudder series '' Slasher: Flesh & Blood'' (2021). She had recurring roles in the third season of the Freeform series ''Sh ...

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

Keara Graves Keara Kristen Graves (born 26 April 1999) is a Canadian actor, YouTuber, and singer. She gained prominence through their role on the Family Channel series ''Lost & Found Music Studios'' (2015–2017). Early life Graves was born in Sault Ste. ...

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 David Iacono (born June 20, 2002) is an American actor. On television, he appeared in the Amazon Prime series ''The Summer I Turned Pretty'' (2022–2023) and the Netflix series ''Dead Boy Detectives'' (2024). He has starred in the films ''Cinna ...

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 Katie Griffin (born January 14, 1973) is a Canadian actress and singer who has appeared on television, films and voiced animations. Her roles include the voices of Sailor Mars in the original English Canadian dub of ''Sailor Moon'', Lauren in ' ...

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 Raven Dauda is a Canadian writer and actor. She has appeared in numerous roles in film and television, and wrote and starred in a one-woman show, ''Addicted''. Early life and education Dauda was born in Ottawa in 1973 to a Jamaican mother and a ...

as Nicole Jackson, Jayson's mother * Geoffrey Pounsett 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 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

'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

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 ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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 Fahamu Pecou (born June 25, 1975) is an American painter and scholar. He is known for producing works that combine aspects of Fine art and Hip-hop. Most of his works engage representations of black masculinity and identity. Early life and educati ...

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 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 ...

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 an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

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 City, United States and London, England, edited by Toni Pérez and Luis Alonso Murillo. It features young artists' work of new models from agencies around the world. ' ...

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 online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' 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. The magazine was first known fo ...

'',

Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He ...

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 ''My So-Called Life'' is an American teen drama television series created by Winnie Holzman and produced by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. It aired on ABC from August 25, 1994 to January 26, 1995. Set at the fictional Liberty High Sch ...

''."

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 LGBTQ-related drama television series 2020s American teen drama television series American English-language television shows Netflix television dramas Television shows about rape American 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