The “Degrassi” cast may soon be returning to class as rumours circulate online that the show will be rebooted by former cast member Drake, leaving cast and fans weighing in.
News of a potential reboot began surfacing on social media earlier this year, and grew stronger when “Degrassi: The Next Generation” cast members Shane Kippel, Melissa McIntyre, and Mike Lobel seemingly confirmed the news during an appearance at Nostalgia Con in Houston, Texas last month.
“He’s rebooting the series, which is wild,” Lobel said.
But the cast did admit that they know very little about it.
“None of us know any details about it, none of us have gotten any phone calls,” Kippel said.
Read More
Lobel confidently told fans that although they don’t know what the reboot is going to look like, they know it’s happening.
Neither Drake or his production company DreamCrew Entertainment have confirmed the news, and “Degrassi” creator Linda Schuyler, who sold the Franchise to Wildbrain, has also remained silent.
However, it is worth noting that Drake was one of the producers behind HBO’s Emmy winning teen-drama series “Euphoria,” starring Zendaya.
HBO MAX also announced plans to revive Degrassi back in January 2022, ordering a 10-episode season; development for the show was well underway until it was cancelled by the streaming service by November that same year.
Now, three years later, “Degrassi” content creator and superfan Jocelyn Claybourne, tells Now Toronto they’ve been “scorned” too many times to believe it just yet.
“I need to see a script. I need to see a cast list. I need to see something a little more than just an announcement for me to put my eggs into another reboot announcement,” they said.
Claybourne was featured in the recent TIFF documentary Degrassi: Whatever It Takes, alongside former cast members, including Drake, and says the singer’s name being attached to a potential reboot does offer a glimmer of hope.
“I think there’s a real love for ‘Degrassi’ that we saw from him in the doc. And I think that him being such a legend from Canada is something that could help this reboot get further along than the other announcements have in the past,” they said.
Claybourne says despite their skepticism they are always on team reboot, and says a reboot could make up for some elements the original shows did not succeed at, such as putting Indigenous characters in the spotlight.
“It’s a Canadian TV show, and we don’t have a single Indigenous character on ‘Degrassi.’ I think it’s time that Indigenous kids in Canada get to tell their story too,” they said.
Claybourne said that previous iterations of the show did not do the best job at making BIPOC (Black and Person of Colour) characters the lead. Claybourne adds Black characters were often reduced to stereotypes, and a reboot would give the series a chance to fix that.
Lastly, they hope a new version of the show would prioritize casting queer actors for queer characters.
“I think today, kids are a lot more open with who they are, so having a trans character, or a non-binary character, or genderqueer characters played by actors who are actually from that background would make a huge impact on how kids connect with the show today,” Claybourne said.
“Degrassi” was first introduced to Canadians in 1979 with “The Kids of Degrassi Street” and ended in 2017 with “Degrassi: Next Class.”
