Overview
Adapting movies into TV shows doesn't always work. But when it does, as the likes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Wet Hot American Summer and Westworld have all shown, it can turn into something spectacular. Australia has its very own example, too, in the form of beloved 90s teen drama Heartbreak High — which started as a spinoff to the Claudia Karvan and Alex Dimitriades-starring 1993 movie The Heartbreak Kid.
Screening for seven seasons and 210 episodes between 1994–9, Heartbreak High was the high school-set Aussie show of the 90s. It was filled with now-familiar faces, including Dimitriades, a pre-Home and Away Ada Nicodemou, and Avengers: Endgame and Mystery Road's Callan Mulvey as Drazic. It painted a multicultural picture of Australia that was unlike anything else on TV at the time. And, for its six-year run across two Aussie networks, the Sydney-shot show was must-see television. So the news that it is making a comeback is very welcome indeed.
Netflix has already brought back the original show by adding it to its streaming catalogue, so you can now revisit the influential series whenever you like. But the platform is also going one better and rebooting it for the 2020s — courtesy of a new series that will be "inspired by the original 90s series, but totally reimagined for a new generation" it announced in a statement.
You will need to wait until 2022 to watch it, though. And, the show's first season will only span eight episodes. Also, just who'll be in it — and whether it'll take the lead of other rebooted teen shows, like the recent new version of Saved By the Bell, and bring back a few of its original stars — hasn't yet been revealed.
Still, if you're feeling nostalgic, you've now got a new series to add to your 2022 must-watch list. And yes, Netflix knows that the new show will attract plenty of fans of the original.
Revealing the news, Netflix's Director of Originals in Australia Que Minh Luu noted that "we haven't had a rebellious Australian YA series on screen since the original Heartbreak High, so this is well overdue. The new Heartbreak High is for young people in Australia today to feel seen — showcasing their stories, senses of humour and aesthetics to the world, and reminding everyone that they are much, much cooler than us. It's also for the 90s kids, fans of the original series who remember what it's like to feel understood by a TV show, then racking off."
Need a quick glimpse of the original? Revisit its opening credits (and get its theme song stuck back in your head) below:
The new version of Heartbreak High is set to hit Netflix sometime in 2022 — we'll update you when an exact launch date is announced.