Ah, the traditional highschool present. With characters and storylines that try to relate to the common teenage expertise, highschool reveals make an effort to attach with their viewers. From the 90s cheese of Beverly Hills, 90210, and Dawson’s Creek to the extra broody The O.C. within the early 2000s, teen reveals have dominated the airwaves for many years.
The rise of streaming hasn’t derailed this pattern, and Netflix seems eager to capitalize on this market. Offering extra distinctive takes on the style, going past teen points to horror and science-fiction components, Netflix is the house of excessive school-based reveals. Here are the perfect ones obtainable on the streaming service.
Updated on March 19, 2023, by David Caballero:
Despite its more and more doubtful fame, Riverdale made it to season 7. Alas, it will likely be the present’s final, finalizing the hectic, eclectic, and outright bonkers journey that has been the present. Netflix will air season 7 ultimately, as soon as it finishes its run on The CW. Meanwhile, followers can get pleasure from a number of different teen reveals on the streamer; certainly, Netflix’s teen library is sort of full, together with comedy, drama, thriller, and even fantasy.
12 ‘Élite’ (2018 – )
The Spanish thriller drama Élite is amongst Netflix’s finest responsible pleasures. Set at a prestigious Spanish personal highschool, the present follows a special thriller every season, with the scholars of Las Encinas Academy changing into reluctant members in crimes that go from kidnapping to homicide.
Overblown, melodramatic, and extremely addictive, Élite is a provocative and underrated highschool sequence on Netflix that intentionally challenges the teenager style’s established guidelines. Criticism about its highly-sexualized plots is rampant, however the present stays a responsible pleasure for its loyal viewers. Most unique solid members are gone, however one way or the other Élite retains reinventing itself, and its loyal viewers could not be extra grateful.
11 ‘Outer Banks’ (2020 – )
Blending motion and journey with traditional teen tropes, Outer Banks is a singular entry into a well known style. The present stars Madelyn Cline and Chase Stokes and facilities on a bunch of youngsters looking for their chief’s lacking father and stumbling to a legendary treasure alongside the best way.
Outer Banks makes use of its setting to discover points of sophistication battle and social divide. Although the dramatic antics usually get the perfect of it, the present stays an sometimes insightful and thrilling teen effort, largely because of its proficient solid and stellar motion/journey storylines. Outer Banks will return for a fourth season, proving how sturdy and essential the present is for Netflix’s teen library.
10 ‘Heartstopper’ (2022 – )
Netflix’s newest hit, Heartstopper follows the friendship of two highschool boys who uncover that their emotions for one another might run deeper than simply being mates. The sequence focuses on the altering dynamics of the boy’s relationship whereas additionally coping with their shut mates’ lives.
Heartstopper has been met with common acclaim (it presently sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes), with explicit reward for its real illustration of LGBTQ+ themes. Heartstopper is a feel-good sequence about younger love in comparison with different highschool reveals that revel of their gritty and confronting storylines.
9 ‘Friday Night Lights’ (2006 – 2011)
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A teen drama that revolves across the sacred artwork of American soccer, Friday Night Lights has extra to supply than simply its on-field drama. Using a small city’s highschool soccer group as a foundation, the sequence focuses on the each day lifetime of its coach and gamers as they navigate rising up.
The sequence was beloved by critics all through its five-season run and was praised for dealing with essential social points corresponding to racism and teenage drug use. The solid was additionally applauded, and the present launched the careers of Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, and Jesse Plemons.
8 ‘Sex Education’ (2019 – )
Another hit for Netflix from the UK, Sex Education follows shy teenager Otis performed by Asa Butterfield, who follows within the footsteps of his intercourse therapist mom – Scully herself, Gillian Anderson – by opening his personal intercourse remedy clinic for his classmates.
What started as an try to get widespread escalates into one thing extra as he develops emotions for his enterprise accomplice and pal Maeve, sequence breakthrough Emma Mackie. Despite its content material, Sex Education is a highschool Netflix sequence that does an incredible job of balancing intercourse jokes with mature storytelling, because the present focuses on its teenage protagonists discovering their sexual identities.
7 ‘Never Have I Ever’ (2020 – )
After discovering herself on the outer at highschool, Indian-American teenager Devi is decided to enhance her social standing. Navigating friendships, first loves, a strained relationship along with her mom, and the tragic passing of her father, Devi discovers that rising up is tough to do.
Created by Mindy Kaling, Never Have I Ever relies on her teenage experiences, with Devi representing her. This concentrate on actuality lends the sequence an air of authenticity, because the storylines concentrate on real-life points most youngsters face. The numerous coming-of-age sequence has additionally been praised for its correct and uncompromising illustration of the South Asian neighborhood.
6 ‘I Am Not Okay with This’ (2020)
Being a young person is hard, nevertheless it’s even tougher if you uncover you possess superpowers. This is the fact confronted by 17-year-old Sydney Novak, who has sufficient on her plate with out her growing expertise for telekinesis. Aided by her pal Stan, Sydney makes an attempt to manage her powers whereas navigating highschool.
The sequence is grounded by the good performances of its two leads, Sophia Lillis and Wyatt Oleff, who additionally starred within the current IT movies. Despite constructive opinions, Netflix canceled I Am Not Okay with This after one season, making it one other one so as to add to the pile of reveals that died far too younger.
5 ‘Riverdale’ (2017 – )
A throwback to the schlocky teen reveals of the Nineteen Nineties, Riverdale is a teen present that is nothing like highschool, because it finds its solid coping with common teenage points corresponding to fixing a homicide. Based on the well-known Archie comics, Riverdale has turn out to be a phenomenon since its launch in 2017, with every new season repeatedly ranking among the many most watched on Netflix.
Despite how campy the present has been throughout its six seasons, typically veering into melodrama, it has remained self-aware, acknowledging that it is aware of simply how ridiculous it may be. The present’s success has led to spin-offs, together with Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Katy Keene.
4 ‘All of Us Are Dead’ (2022 – )
Navigating all of the social norms of highschool is tough sufficient, nevertheless it’s even tougher when the halls are stuffed with bloodthirsty zombies. A current launch from South Korea, All of Us Are Dead follows a bunch of teenage survivors trapped inside their highschool throughout a zombie outbreak.
Melding horror with teenage drama, the sequence takes the time to develop its characters, revealing their backstories and desires for the long run. It makes the present compulsive viewing and causes every dying to hit tougher within the feels throughout its twelve episodes.
3 ‘Atypical’ (2017 – 2021)
Atypical focuses on 18-year-old Sam (Keir Gilchrist), a excessive schooler on the autism spectrum. Resolving to discover a girlfriend, Sam grapples with changing into extra impartial as he begins his seek for love. This change in Sam additionally impacts his household, notably his overprotective mom, Elsa (Jennifer Jason Leigh).
While the neurodivergent-focused present was criticized early on for not hiring any autistic actors or crew members, this was addressed after the primary season. This constructive change lends later seasons an air of authenticity because the present focuses on the altering dynamics of Sam and his household in real looking methods.
2 ‘Derry Girls’ (2018 – 2022)
Set in Ireland throughout the political disaster of the Nineteen Nineties, Derry Girls follows the lives of a bunch of youngsters attending a girls-only Catholic faculty. The sequence follows the usual fare of highschool reveals, from being compelled to develop as much as discovering one’s sexuality, however does so with a serving to of darkish humor and Irish attraction.
The present has been praised for providing a sensible portrayal of teenage life throughout this turbulent time in Ireland, because the storylines are based mostly on creator Lisa McGee‘s personal life experiences. Derry Girls is as relatable as it’s hilarious, reaching its inevitable but passable conclusion final 12 months and going out on a excessive observe.
1 ‘Stranger Things’ (2016 – )
The jewel in Netflix’s crown, Stranger Things is the streamer’s hottest property. Set within the Nineteen Eighties, the sequence follows a bunch of children, their teenage siblings, and their dad and mom as they’re pulled right into a thriller involving a wierd new woman with powers and a portal to a terrifying alternate dimension.
Strangers Things got here out of nowhere to turn out to be a smash hit and launched the careers of its younger solid. While the sequence focuses on supernatural monsters, it additionally focuses on the equally terrifying problem of rising up and combines each facets to create among the best reveals presently airing.