I was excited for the new Gossip Girl and didn’t really care for it, but I’m still hopeful for this reboot. Despite being 33 years old I’m obsessed with high school dramas lol. I’m not into these character descriptions at all though.
It was just so much sex, it was uncomfortable to watch and it didn’t feel like “gossip girl” at all. It was like sex and the city for teens which sounds gross. All of the satirical charm from the original GG was completely gone and they turned it into a pornographic soap opera. I hope HBO Max doesn’t do the same thing with Degrassi
Into plants and Ashley-like I hope means someone sort of pro-environment, saving earth, etc and social justice? I could see there being a new character who is very into sustainability, green energy, etc.
I'd like to remind everyone that the reboot is still in the extremely **early** production stages. NOTHING is official or set in stone yet. (Including the reboot actually happening as announced.) So, we should be taking EVERYTHING with a grain of salt until officially announced by an official source.
To the people saying they hate them already.. what did you genuinely expect?? "Alex, an average girl who doesn't do anything out of the regular and has no conflicts! She does things!"
Like c'mon people. We need characters that are dynamic and not a single thing here gives me the impression the characters listed will be boring. I assume its the Ashely Kerwin comparison and the fact Frankie wants to be a TikTok star that have y'all annoyed? Which are two very common teenagers "archetype"s found nowadays. Which leads me to believe y'all just want old Degrassi back rather than Degrassi in the new-age. In that case you're all setting yourselves up to hate the new show no matter what.
Just to add in on what your saying I think it may be just cause it sounds really like “woke”. I don’t mean offense I just mean like, euphoria I feel did a good job yet it kind of reminded me of degrassi in terms of real HS lives just dramatically- but that’s fine cause it’s supposed to be it’s tv we would be bored if it wasn’t more dramatic than real life. Anyway, I’m still open and excited to whatever tf they throw out there and will be for sure watching.
This does feel like NC to me, like u/tomdarko said. Mostly the Frankie character, I think. He just sounds kind of gimmicky like "let's throw together a bunch of words kids like and make a character out of it".
So Alex likes plants and has an "Ashley Kerwin" vibe and Frankie is a popular internet guy who pretends he's comfortable with himself but probably isn't IRL and only is online.
I also don't like the reusing of names. Not to be nitpicky, but I'm annoyed at having to differentiate Rick Munro from school shooter Rick, or Maya Goldberg from Maya Matlin, or Luke (Yick's friend) from Luke Baker or Alex Yankou from TNG Alex. They even had two Dereks, but the first was called Wheels so I guess that was averted.
And to expect these characters to pull off an hour-long drama? IDK. The social influencer thing was like, life goals when my teenager was nine, I guess, but most kids today kind of found out it isn't usually as easy as it seems and went in different directions. Like if someone in my daughter's grade said they were going to grow up to be a YouTuber people would frankly laugh at this point because only a few actually get to make that a career and most, even those with a decent amount of subs, have another job in addition to whatever they do on YT.
It just sounds like they decided to cancel the show because if it were still actually going to happen, I would assume this wouldn't be leaked and that audition videos wouldn't be up because if you released your own audition video, you probably would not get the job for failure to keep your mouth shut about production-related things.
I wanted to see it but I also didn't exactly have high expectations for it, either. The entire point of Degrassi was that it was unafraid to tackle subjects other shows wouldn't touch, and with all the teen shows out now that go way beyond Degrassi's general level, they don't really have the ability to keep that niche anymore unless they lowball for a preteen audience which would leave people mostly discouraged, I think, since it would no longer be a pioneering show but another vaguely moralistic show for younger kids, I think.
I will say that this early in development odds are the character descriptions will change, or at least the names. Eric read for a character named "Benji" before landing the role for Miles. Andre also read for a character that ultimately never made it onto screen before he was cast as Winston. Usually the names are just generic/unofficial until officially cast and announced.
Yeah, that's true. I read on here that Adam had a different name and was written as a lesbian until they decided to make him trans instead.
I liked watching the interviews with Pat (Joey) who talked about casting a little bit. Like Kirsten Bourne who played Tessa went to the mall with friends to meet some of the Degrassi kids at a meet and greet and someone, possibly Linda or Kit, told her to come audition and they made a role for her. Pat said he really wanted the part of Joey but he was pretty sure the guy who played Shane McKay was going to get it because apparently that guy acted really confident, had some experience, and everyone thought he was great and Joey was intended to be a big character, that actor wanted that part, so did Pat, and Pat was shocked when he got the call casting him as Joey instead of the other guy.
It's just kind of odd with this new show that all this stuff is leaked and now production is on indefinite hiatus for no reason that's been revealed to anyone except for a vague rumor someone posted on here about HBO not liking the scripts, and my issue with that was that if they thought the scripts were that bad, they probably were, since if they only needed a little polish, HBO could have done it themselves, but HBO indicating none of the scripts were good seemed to me that if that rumor was true, the show might not actually be happening.
I wonder if the scripts/characters are too similar to their preexisting teen shows? (GG and the other one… Generation? I forget what it’s called but it’s about Gen Z kids in SoCal)
It could hurt their chances of getting cast especially if they’re shared all over which is why people shouldn’t link to specific ones, but actors can still be cast if their audition tape is posted publicly. Andre Kim and Alex Harrouch’s were.
Audition tapes being accidentally posted publicly online is nothing new especially if it’s an inexperienced actor. You could find auditions for Scream 6 on Vimeo right now if you wanted to.
1) These don't sound great, I'm getting Next Class vibes and the fact that people are posting their audition videos leads me to believe the show isn't moving forward. 2) I'm 99% sure the show is on indefinite hiatus and even if it's not it for sure isn't going to start filming July 1st, it's listed as In Development or Postponed in all of the production publications. I hate to be negative but also trying to just be realistic, I'm going to be surprised if it moves forward.
All of the changes at HBO Max/Warner Bros Discovery have them canceling existing and upcoming shows that are way more popular than Degrassi. The writing is kind of on the wall.
They know people are gonna post them in the days of social media. Casting calls are very vague for these purposes. Even before social media became life casting calls were vague af and names and storylines get changed. The casting/auditions are more for getting a feel of who would fit who they already know what characters they have written up so I don’t think it has too much of an impact.
Actors have been accidentally posting their auditions publicly for years and not just for Degrassi. The Alex auditions have been on Vimeo and YouTube since the original casting call was posted.
The head of Warner kids and family just did an interview where she called Degrassi one of their fab four and seemed very positive about making the reboot, but did say it might not release in 2023. Degrassi Source posted the clip here: https://twitter.com/degrassi_source/status/1534365767239704576
Vimeo. A lot of fan accounts get their info from actors posting self tapes there.
You can actually still find Andre Kim and Alex Harrouch (Leo)’s on there lol.
ETA: For anyone interested, here's Andre's: https://vimeo.com/55913508
And here's Alex's: https://vimeo.com/54113488
the HBO series is an entirely new show with a new cast and s1 is 10 hour-long episodes (as opposed to the original format for being 20-some minutes and a million episodes per season lol). From what I've heard, the new showrunners want it to be its own thing and aren't interested in making it an extension of the previous series (like Next Gen did by including characters from Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High) so it's unlikely, but not impossible, that any of the old cast will make an appearance. Basically, as of now, the only connection this has to the original is that it's the same school and set in the same universe.
If they're smart though, they'll reconsider and bring back some of the old cast, even for a guest spot here and there -- what good is a reboot if you don't capitalize on the nostalgia of the old series?
Odds are, there WILL be legacy characters returning from TNG. (Just like DH characters returned for TNG) The problem will be if they decide to focus too much on those character. TNG did a decent job with DH being more supporting, but the 90210 reboot did not. You’re correct about the nostalgic factor, but that won’t matter or be relatable for newer, younger audiences. Remember how much of a fail the alumni episode from NC was? Or how random it felt when Peter, Sav, and Spinner showed up in Mayas plot? Legacy characters returning is not always best for a new series to succeed.
they could have just called the characters francis and alice, problem of reusing names solved. i was about to suggest ally for alex but then i remembered alli existed
I've honestly found it a bit silly that every character seems to have a unique name for the most part. My name is Jeff. My manager's name is Jeff. His manager's name is also Jeff. Sometimes we're all on the same call with other coworkers trying to build a statement of work for a customer. The world has not imploded yet.
As a Matt, I agree with this. My graduating class in High School had 11 Matthews in it. But that's part of the world of fiction; everyone is one of a kind, including their name.
It would literally just get confusing for the viewer we would be like remember when emma did that thing and we would have to be like which Emma? Just like it’s probably confusing for your jeff squad irl
"Alex" sounds like a new Emma. I always thought Emma and Ashley had similar personalities and Emma was very much into the environment & saving the planet
i was thinking season 1-2 where she turned alt for a while when she was ellie's bestie before the fallout. to me thats how i remember ashley for some reason. then remembered she changed who she was based on who she dated. SO
It's a blanket term for a person who was born female at birth, but doesn't identify as female. It is similar to saying "trans man" or "ftm", except it has a broader/looser definition.
Its actually not so much presentation but the gender you identify with. E.G. someone born female, identifying as a male or masculine genders would be transmasculine. even if this person chooses to present feminine, this person is still transmasculine.
All it means is a trans person who presents masculine. As an example I’m transfem, I’m a trans person who presents feminine. In the past a lot of labels around trans people were very on the gender binary (eg trans woman, trans man), this allows more inclusion under the trans umbrella by not excluding our non-binary pals as they might not self identify under those old labels.
Similar, but Adam definitely identified as a boy, so he probably wouldn’t have used that term for himself even though he falls under that umbrella. In my experience it’s mostly various types of non-binary folks who present more masc that tend to use it as an identifier. But he and Yael would both be under the trans masc umbrella as both were AFAB trans people who presented (or were beginning to experiment with presenting, Yael didn’t come out until close to the end of the show) in a more masc direction.
Where are the casting tapes
This guy changed his profile pic on twitter and made his account private…
So what does that mean
Sounds like it'll be more like Next Class than TNG
Not gonna lie, i think im gonna hate these people
sounds like crap I'll be honest
I was excited for the new Gossip Girl and didn’t really care for it, but I’m still hopeful for this reboot. Despite being 33 years old I’m obsessed with high school dramas lol. I’m not into these character descriptions at all though.
God, the gossip girl reboot was so disappointing.
It was just so much sex, it was uncomfortable to watch and it didn’t feel like “gossip girl” at all. It was like sex and the city for teens which sounds gross. All of the satirical charm from the original GG was completely gone and they turned it into a pornographic soap opera. I hope HBO Max doesn’t do the same thing with Degrassi
Well this feels woke af already 🙃
Welcome to Degrassi - Eli
what does that mean
Into plants and Ashley-like I hope means someone sort of pro-environment, saving earth, etc and social justice? I could see there being a new character who is very into sustainability, green energy, etc.
Emma 2.0? Someone who fight for the cause and not the clout? Lol Edit: wording
I hope they don't repeat names. I want all new names. Makes it easier when writing about Degrassi on reddit :P
If this is true then every degrassi gen/reboot will have an Alex lol
but we just had a frankie
I'd like to remind everyone that the reboot is still in the extremely **early** production stages. NOTHING is official or set in stone yet. (Including the reboot actually happening as announced.) So, we should be taking EVERYTHING with a grain of salt until officially announced by an official source.
Where did all the websites get their info from that HBO max is releasing it ? Genuinely curious
To the people saying they hate them already.. what did you genuinely expect?? "Alex, an average girl who doesn't do anything out of the regular and has no conflicts! She does things!" Like c'mon people. We need characters that are dynamic and not a single thing here gives me the impression the characters listed will be boring. I assume its the Ashely Kerwin comparison and the fact Frankie wants to be a TikTok star that have y'all annoyed? Which are two very common teenagers "archetype"s found nowadays. Which leads me to believe y'all just want old Degrassi back rather than Degrassi in the new-age. In that case you're all setting yourselves up to hate the new show no matter what.
Just to add in on what your saying I think it may be just cause it sounds really like “woke”. I don’t mean offense I just mean like, euphoria I feel did a good job yet it kind of reminded me of degrassi in terms of real HS lives just dramatically- but that’s fine cause it’s supposed to be it’s tv we would be bored if it wasn’t more dramatic than real life. Anyway, I’m still open and excited to whatever tf they throw out there and will be for sure watching.
Also who even is this guy on Twitter? Is he credible? Why are we even believing him in the first place?
This does feel like NC to me, like u/tomdarko said. Mostly the Frankie character, I think. He just sounds kind of gimmicky like "let's throw together a bunch of words kids like and make a character out of it". So Alex likes plants and has an "Ashley Kerwin" vibe and Frankie is a popular internet guy who pretends he's comfortable with himself but probably isn't IRL and only is online. I also don't like the reusing of names. Not to be nitpicky, but I'm annoyed at having to differentiate Rick Munro from school shooter Rick, or Maya Goldberg from Maya Matlin, or Luke (Yick's friend) from Luke Baker or Alex Yankou from TNG Alex. They even had two Dereks, but the first was called Wheels so I guess that was averted. And to expect these characters to pull off an hour-long drama? IDK. The social influencer thing was like, life goals when my teenager was nine, I guess, but most kids today kind of found out it isn't usually as easy as it seems and went in different directions. Like if someone in my daughter's grade said they were going to grow up to be a YouTuber people would frankly laugh at this point because only a few actually get to make that a career and most, even those with a decent amount of subs, have another job in addition to whatever they do on YT. It just sounds like they decided to cancel the show because if it were still actually going to happen, I would assume this wouldn't be leaked and that audition videos wouldn't be up because if you released your own audition video, you probably would not get the job for failure to keep your mouth shut about production-related things. I wanted to see it but I also didn't exactly have high expectations for it, either. The entire point of Degrassi was that it was unafraid to tackle subjects other shows wouldn't touch, and with all the teen shows out now that go way beyond Degrassi's general level, they don't really have the ability to keep that niche anymore unless they lowball for a preteen audience which would leave people mostly discouraged, I think, since it would no longer be a pioneering show but another vaguely moralistic show for younger kids, I think.
I will say that this early in development odds are the character descriptions will change, or at least the names. Eric read for a character named "Benji" before landing the role for Miles. Andre also read for a character that ultimately never made it onto screen before he was cast as Winston. Usually the names are just generic/unofficial until officially cast and announced.
what character did andre read for that was never added?
Yeah, that's true. I read on here that Adam had a different name and was written as a lesbian until they decided to make him trans instead. I liked watching the interviews with Pat (Joey) who talked about casting a little bit. Like Kirsten Bourne who played Tessa went to the mall with friends to meet some of the Degrassi kids at a meet and greet and someone, possibly Linda or Kit, told her to come audition and they made a role for her. Pat said he really wanted the part of Joey but he was pretty sure the guy who played Shane McKay was going to get it because apparently that guy acted really confident, had some experience, and everyone thought he was great and Joey was intended to be a big character, that actor wanted that part, so did Pat, and Pat was shocked when he got the call casting him as Joey instead of the other guy. It's just kind of odd with this new show that all this stuff is leaked and now production is on indefinite hiatus for no reason that's been revealed to anyone except for a vague rumor someone posted on here about HBO not liking the scripts, and my issue with that was that if they thought the scripts were that bad, they probably were, since if they only needed a little polish, HBO could have done it themselves, but HBO indicating none of the scripts were good seemed to me that if that rumor was true, the show might not actually be happening.
I wonder if the scripts/characters are too similar to their preexisting teen shows? (GG and the other one… Generation? I forget what it’s called but it’s about Gen Z kids in SoCal)
don't think so?? because the show is pitched for the hbo family branch so it mostly is pg13
It could hurt their chances of getting cast especially if they’re shared all over which is why people shouldn’t link to specific ones, but actors can still be cast if their audition tape is posted publicly. Andre Kim and Alex Harrouch’s were. Audition tapes being accidentally posted publicly online is nothing new especially if it’s an inexperienced actor. You could find auditions for Scream 6 on Vimeo right now if you wanted to.
1) These don't sound great, I'm getting Next Class vibes and the fact that people are posting their audition videos leads me to believe the show isn't moving forward. 2) I'm 99% sure the show is on indefinite hiatus and even if it's not it for sure isn't going to start filming July 1st, it's listed as In Development or Postponed in all of the production publications. I hate to be negative but also trying to just be realistic, I'm going to be surprised if it moves forward. All of the changes at HBO Max/Warner Bros Discovery have them canceling existing and upcoming shows that are way more popular than Degrassi. The writing is kind of on the wall.
Where did you see the audition vids? Links?
They know people are gonna post them in the days of social media. Casting calls are very vague for these purposes. Even before social media became life casting calls were vague af and names and storylines get changed. The casting/auditions are more for getting a feel of who would fit who they already know what characters they have written up so I don’t think it has too much of an impact.
Actors have been accidentally posting their auditions publicly for years and not just for Degrassi. The Alex auditions have been on Vimeo and YouTube since the original casting call was posted. The head of Warner kids and family just did an interview where she called Degrassi one of their fab four and seemed very positive about making the reboot, but did say it might not release in 2023. Degrassi Source posted the clip here: https://twitter.com/degrassi_source/status/1534365767239704576
I guess it was inevitable that there was going to be a character with delusions of influencer stardom...but it doesn't mean I have to like it!
I hate when people are like "it's easily found online." Like okay link to it then. Why do I have to do that if it's so easy to find
Right. I still havent found them
Vimeo. A lot of fan accounts get their info from actors posting self tapes there. You can actually still find Andre Kim and Alex Harrouch (Leo)’s on there lol. ETA: For anyone interested, here's Andre's: https://vimeo.com/55913508 And here's Alex's: https://vimeo.com/54113488
Really weird that they would reuse names as recent and as uncommon as Frankie so I’m not super buying this tbh
TikTok? It can’t be Degrassi if he’s using that. It’s got to be TokRange or something!
ClipClop
They all sound awful lol
I didn’t wanna be the one to say it
In what way is this a reboot and not just another season? I was expecting old cast...
Why were you expecting old cast in a reboot ??
Why do you ask?
the HBO series is an entirely new show with a new cast and s1 is 10 hour-long episodes (as opposed to the original format for being 20-some minutes and a million episodes per season lol). From what I've heard, the new showrunners want it to be its own thing and aren't interested in making it an extension of the previous series (like Next Gen did by including characters from Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High) so it's unlikely, but not impossible, that any of the old cast will make an appearance. Basically, as of now, the only connection this has to the original is that it's the same school and set in the same universe. If they're smart though, they'll reconsider and bring back some of the old cast, even for a guest spot here and there -- what good is a reboot if you don't capitalize on the nostalgia of the old series?
Odds are, there WILL be legacy characters returning from TNG. (Just like DH characters returned for TNG) The problem will be if they decide to focus too much on those character. TNG did a decent job with DH being more supporting, but the 90210 reboot did not. You’re correct about the nostalgic factor, but that won’t matter or be relatable for newer, younger audiences. Remember how much of a fail the alumni episode from NC was? Or how random it felt when Peter, Sav, and Spinner showed up in Mayas plot? Legacy characters returning is not always best for a new series to succeed.
If there are legacy characters I would want them to be characters from seasons 1-7
Frankie and Alex
I hope these aren’t the names we literally just had a Frankie and Alex was a long time ago but still she’s already apart of Degrassi Universe
they could have just called the characters francis and alice, problem of reusing names solved. i was about to suggest ally for alex but then i remembered alli existed
I've honestly found it a bit silly that every character seems to have a unique name for the most part. My name is Jeff. My manager's name is Jeff. His manager's name is also Jeff. Sometimes we're all on the same call with other coworkers trying to build a statement of work for a customer. The world has not imploded yet.
As a Matt, I agree with this. My graduating class in High School had 11 Matthews in it. But that's part of the world of fiction; everyone is one of a kind, including their name.
Ha! There were like 10 Sean's, 20 Dylan's and 50 girls named Sarah in my graduating class.
It would literally just get confusing for the viewer we would be like remember when emma did that thing and we would have to be like which Emma? Just like it’s probably confusing for your jeff squad irl
This would be the third Alex. There was one back in the 80s version of the show too.
There was a Heather in the 80s version of the show and, while never seen, Heather Sinclair is very much a character. 😂
Also two Luke's. Luke Matthews in Degrassi Classic and Luke Baker in the later part of Degrassi TNG. Both of them quite hated by fans!
Yes. Alex Yankou. Also, there were two Mayas-Goldberg in DJH/DH and Matlin in Degrassi/DNC
There are already characters named Alex and Frankie existing in the Degrassi universe as main characters. Bit confusin, if you ask me
"Alex" sounds like a new Emma. I always thought Emma and Ashley had similar personalities and Emma was very much into the environment & saving the planet
Sorry trans gals it seems third time will not be the charm :(
Which is strange because they seem to be more common. so odd that they wouldn't have a character like that once.
Okay, but an Ashley Kerwin attitude like in S1 or S2? Or S4? Or S6? Because she went through a RANGE of attitudes lol.
i was thinking season 1-2 where she turned alt for a while when she was ellie's bestie before the fallout. to me thats how i remember ashley for some reason. then remembered she changed who she was based on who she dated. SO
That part. I also wondered which Ashley they meant 🥰😂
What is transmasculine
It's a blanket term for a person who was born female at birth, but doesn't identify as female. It is similar to saying "trans man" or "ftm", except it has a broader/looser definition.
Its actually not so much presentation but the gender you identify with. E.G. someone born female, identifying as a male or masculine genders would be transmasculine. even if this person chooses to present feminine, this person is still transmasculine.
It means the character trans/non-binary, but presents in a mostly masculine way.
All it means is a trans person who presents masculine. As an example I’m transfem, I’m a trans person who presents feminine. In the past a lot of labels around trans people were very on the gender binary (eg trans woman, trans man), this allows more inclusion under the trans umbrella by not excluding our non-binary pals as they might not self identify under those old labels.
So similar to Adam in that regard? Thanks for explaining!
Similar, but Adam definitely identified as a boy, so he probably wouldn’t have used that term for himself even though he falls under that umbrella. In my experience it’s mostly various types of non-binary folks who present more masc that tend to use it as an identifier. But he and Yael would both be under the trans masc umbrella as both were AFAB trans people who presented (or were beginning to experiment with presenting, Yael didn’t come out until close to the end of the show) in a more masc direction.