What happened to ‘Degrassi: Next Class’ Season 5?
TV shows come and go but no show has been loved more than Degrassi, both in Canada and in the states. I mean, after all, it gave us Drake and who doesn’t have his music on their phone or Spotify playlist?
The Canadian series has been on for 35 years, putting out more than 485 episodes across six different series, the most recent being Degrassi: Next Class on Netflix, which has run for four seasons. But the big mystery is surrounding the fifth season.
It has been over two years since the show filmed anything new and the last new episode aired back in July 2017. While nothing has ever officially been announced by Netflix, it looks like Next Class era of the show is over for good. I mean, it doesn’t take Netflix over two years to decide if they want to keep on streaming the show on their platform, does it?
The cast and crew alike are no longer working on anything related to the show and have moved on to other projects. In fact, several crew members, as well as cast member Sara Waisglass, are working on the show Holly Hobbie, which can be seen on Hulu in America.
Let’s take a look at the timeline of events since season four wrapped:
- January 2017: Producer Stefan Brogren posted an Instagram video of the audition room on the set of the show. This was the first sign that plans were in the works for a fifth season.
- Summer 2017: No filming took place for the planned fifth season and since the show usually films their seasons during the summertime, this was the first red flag.
- June 2018: Drake released his music video for “I’m Upset”, which was filmed on the set of Degrassi. This was another sign plans were still in the works for a fifth season as the set remained intact.
- July 2018: A Reddit post claimed Netflix wanted to make changes to the show and replace the Canadian actors with American ones. Two of the show’s stars, Jamie Bloch and Waisglass, responded to the news in a tweet, with Waisglass’ reading: “spill that painful tea.”
- August 2018: Brogren spoke at a convention of Degrassi alums and stated: “I don’t think that Degrassi is dead, but it is definitely not going to be happening anytime soon.”
So again, while nothing is official from Netflix, it appears Degrassi is over for the time being. It is possible that in a few years the show will return for a newer generation beyond Next Class.
Like the show’s theme song says, “Whatever it takes, I know I can make it through.”
Do you miss Degrassi? Do you think it will return in the future? Let us know in the comments below!
6 comments
I find it sad to believe that they ended it at season 5. In my opinion, the last season probably didnt got as much views as the first of the generation ‘Next Class’, as these episodes became shorter and the seasons became shorter, the story’s got more cropped and it just want as fun to follow as before. I really liked how they got Yael to play a non binary role, how they made it seem as Esme has borderline personality disorder and the whole thing with Saad, his sister and terrorism. I really really looked forward into seeing what they were going to do with especially those three topics. But I like to imagine that the next season will be the same as with Snake Spike and Emma, but this time with baby Tyler who eventually meets his biological mom, Jenna? Maybe Eli and Clair will pop up as some Joey with the carshop. I don’t know I’m just fantasizing a lot lately.
I feel like anything I ever knew just ends. It helped me through a lot of situations in my life. Anything that connected me to when I was younger is gone. Reading this literally broke my heart. I really can’t believe they’d end it like that too. Didn’t even make it memorable, there’s so much more they could go off of.
I really don’t want Degrassi to be gone forever, it would be cool if they did come back with fresh ideas and sometimes you just need a break, like they did at the end of Degrassi high, I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing a new generation of Degrassi in the future, and all of the beloved actors like, Sara Waisglass, Ana Golja, Ricardo Hoyos, Amanda Arcuri, Eric Osborne and so many more in other films and TV shows so we can see how they have grown from Degrassi and become better actors, maybe it’s for the best that Degrassi is put on hold for now, but I know, I have faith, that it will return in the future.
Watching Degrassi through out middle and high school helped me relate and tackle so many situations, whether it was cyber bullying, rumors spreading, love triangles, wardrobe malfunctions, it made me feel like I wasn’t alone. I really want them to continue creating new episodes and to evolve with the changing times but to keep the rawness of the earlier Degrassi seasons. Degrassi: Next Class didn’t develop the stories as well as it could have been, given the topics. Bottom line: WE NEED MORE DEGRASSI!
I love Degrassi please don’t let it end!!! Everyone needs to petition to have it back the way it’s suppose to be!
What’s confusing is if you go to imdb they have a season five listed and there are actual episode summarizes for those episodes. I don’t know how those got up there if they didn’t film a season five.