''Step Up'' (previously titled ''Step Up: High Water'') is an American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series, based on the ''Step Up'' film series. It premiered on January 31, 2018, on

YouTube Red YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals programming ...

. The series was created by

Holly Sorensen Holly Sorensen is an American film producer and screenwriter. Biography Holly Sorensen was born and raised in Montana, and was given scholarships to the Annie Wright School in Tacoma, Washington and Dartmouth College, where she studied philoso ...

, who also serves as an executive producer alongside

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor. Tatum made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance film ''Step Up (film), Step Up''. He gained wider attention for ...

and

Jenna Dewan Jenna Lee Dewan (; born December 3, 1980) is an American actress and dancer. She started her career as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, and later worked with artists including Christina Aguilera, Pink, and Missy Elliott. She is known for her ...

. After being canceled by YouTube Red after two seasons,

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

picked up the series for a third season, which premiered on October 16, 2022. In December 2022, the series was canceled after three seasons.

Premise

The series follows the students and faculty of "High Water", Atlanta's most cutthroat performing arts school. When twins Tal and Janelle relocate from Ohio, they find themselves thrust into a world where every move is a test. As they attempt to navigate their new world— on and off the dance floor— they will discover just how deep they are willing to dig to realize their dreams and seize their moment.

Cast and characters

Main

Lauryn McClain Thriii (pronounced "three") is an American girl group that was formed in 2005 by the sisters China Anne McClain, Sierra McClain, and Lauryn McClain. The group was also known as 3mcclaingirls in 2005–2009, McClain Sisters in 2010–2014 and just ...

as Janelle Baker (season 1) *Petrice Jones (seasons 1–2) and

Keiynan Lonsdale Keiynan Lonsdale (; born 19 December 1991) is an Australian actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter. He is known for roles such as Oliver Lloyd in the ABC series ''Dance Academy'' (2012–2013), Wally West/Kid Flash in the CW series ''The Flash'' ...

(season 3) as Tal Baker *Marcus Mitchell as Dondre Hall (seasons 1–2) *Terrence Green as Rigo Octavio * Carlito Olivero as Davis Jimenez * Jade Chynoweth as Odalie Allen *Kendra Oyesanya as Poppy Martinez *Eric Graise as King *

Faizon Love Faizon Andre Love (born Langston Faizon Santisima; June 14, 1968) is a Cuban-born American actor and comedian. He is best known for his roles in the comedy films '' The Meteor Man'', ''Don't Be a Menace'', ''Friday'', ''B*A*P*S'', ''Elf'', '' Th ...

as Al Baker *

Naya Rivera Naya Marie Rivera (; January 12, 1987July 8, 2020) was an American actress, singer, and model. Recognized for her work on the popular musical comedy-drama series ''Glee'', she received various awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award and ...

(seasons 1–2) and

Christina Milian Christine Marie Flores (born September 26, 1981), better known as Christina Milian (), is an American actress and singer. Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, but raised in Maryland, she signed a contract with Murder Inc. Records at the age of 19. ...

(season 3) as Collette Jones *

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...

as Sage Odom *Terayle Hill as Marquise Howard (season 3; recurring seasons 1–2) *Rebbi Rose as Angel Etomi (season 3) *

Enrique Murciano Enrique Ricardo Murciano (born July 9, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for his role as FBI agent Danny Taylor in the CBS mystery drama series ''Without a Trace'' from 2002 to 2009. Early life and education Born and raised in Miami, Flor ...

as Ricardo Cruz (season 3) *

Tricia Helfer Tricia Janine Helfer (born April 11, 1974) is a Canadian-American actress and former model. She played the enigmatic Cylon model Number Six in the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' series (2004–2009). She also voiced Sarah Kerrigan in ''S ...

as Erin Baxter (season 3)

Recurring

*R. Marcos Taylor as Earnest Octavio/East-O (season 1) *Al Calderon as Johnny One (season 1) *Saidah Nairobi as Electra *

Ashley Greene Ashley Michele Greene Khoury (born February 21, 1987) is an American actress. She is known for playing Alice Cullen in the film adaptations of Stephenie Meyer's ''Twilight'' novels. Early life Greene was born on February 21, 1987, in Jack ...

as Nine Sanders (season 2) *Jeremy Copeland as Zo Browder (season 2) *Cruz Abelita as Justin (seasons 1-3)

Guest

Savion Glover Savion Glover (born November 19, 1973) is an American tap dancer, actor, and choreographer. Early life The youngest of three sons, Glover was born to a white father, who left the family before he was born, and a black mother. Glover's great grand ...

as Quincy Hobbs *

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Sean Combs, D ...

as himself *Will Swannell as himself *

Todrick Hall Todrick Hall (born April 4, 1985) is an American singer, choreographer, and YouTuber. He gained national attention on the ninth season of the televised singing competition ''American Idol''. Following this, he amassed a huge following on YouTu ...

as himself *

Robin Givens Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') ** Bush-robin **Forest ro ...

as Dana *

Travis Wall Travis Michael Wall (born September 16, 1987) is an American dancer, instructor, and choreographer specializing in contemporary and jazz dance styles. He rose to international attention in 2006 as a competitor on the second season of the Fox t ...

as himself *

Luther Brown Luther Brown is a Canadian choreographer/artistic director. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and raised in Toronto, Ontario, he is best known as a hip hop dance choreographer for movies, television and commercials. Brown is a regular choreographer ...

as himself * Tight Eyez as himself

Episodes

Season 1 (2018)

Season 2 (2019)

Season 3 (2022)

Production

Development

On June 23, 2016,

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

announced at the annual

VidCon VidCon is an annual convention for fans, creators, executives, and online brands. The event primarily features prominent video stars from across the internet. In October 2020, VidCon Now relaunched as an ongoing, free digital offering. Vetera ...

conference in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

that they were developing a new drama series based on the ''Step Up'' film series with

Lionsgate Television Lionsgate Television is the television division of Lionsgate, which is a Canadian–American entertainment company. History The company was established in July 1997 as Lions Gate Television, Inc. with the establishment of Lionsgate Films. It acq ...

producing alongside

and

. On June 23, 2017, YouTube announced that it had officially given ''Step Up: High Water'' a first season order consisting of ten episodes, each running about 45 minutes in length. The series was described as YouTube Red's first "big-budget, Hollywood-produced television drama" and that its arrival would end up "moving it into more direct competition with players like Netflix and traditional cable networks." In the announcement, it was revealed that each episode of the series would cost several million dollars to produce. A few days later, members of the series' creative team were announced. Original songs for the series were set to be written by singer/songwriter Jason “PooBear” Boyd and “Jingle” Jared Gutstadt. The films series’ choreographer Jamal Sims was expected to choreograph the first episode after which subsequent episodes would be choreographed by Jamaica Craft. The pilot episode was set to be directed by Adam Shankman. It was later reported that

Debbie Allen Deborah Kaye Allen (born January 16, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer-songwriter, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an ...

had directed the show's second episode. On May 22, 2018, it was announced that YouTube had renewed the series for a second season. On January 24, 2019, it was reported that the second season would premiere on March 20, 2019. On August 16, 2019, YouTube Premium canceled the series after two seasons. On May 28, 2020,

picked up the series for a third season. Following filming restrictions during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Blackhall Studios reopened for production on several films and the series, which was being written at the time, on July 13, 2020. Production was immediately paused on the same day when lead actress Naya Rivera was found dead following a boating accident several days prior. Rivera's character had been set to appear; in August 2020 it was announced that a re-worked season would begin filming in January 2021. On September 17, 2022, it was announced that the third season would premiere on October 16, 2022. Days before the season finale, it was announced that Starz had canceled the series.

Casting

On June 28, 2017, it was announced that

, Petrice Jones, Marcus Mitchell, Jade Chynoweth, Carlito Olivero, Terrence Green, R. Marcos Taylor, Eric Graise, and Kendra Oyesanya had been cast in the series' main roles. On January 19, 2018, it was reported that

would make a guest appearance in the series as a teacher at High Water. On August 28, 2018, it was announced that in season two

and Jeremy Copeland were joining the cast, that

and

would appear as themselves, and that JaQuel Knight would make a cameo appearance in addition to choreographing episode three. After YouTube canceled the series, Petrice Jones moved on to other projects, leaving him unavailable by the time Starz picked up the show for Season 3. His role was filled by Keiynan Lonsdale as new character Tal Baker. Because of Naya Rivera's death,

was cast as Collette.

Release

Marketing

On July 12, 2017, YouTube released a video introducing the show's main cast. On August 13, 2017, the cast of the series, including Jade Chynoweth and Kendra Oyesanya, performed at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards with a highly choreographed dance routine. On December 19, 2017, YouTube released the first trailer for the series and announced that the show would premiere on January 31, 2018, with all ten episodes released at once. On January 24, 2019, the official trailer for season two was released.

Premiere

On January 30, 2018, YouTube partnered with

Fathom Events Fathom Events is an entertainment content provider that broadcasts entertainment events in movie theaters throughout the United States including Metropolitan Opera Live in HD, the performing arts, major sporting events, and music concerts. Th ...

for special screenings of the first episode of the series at more than 750 movie theaters. The event also included a screening of the original 2006 ''Step Up'' film that launched the five-film franchise, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the television series.

Reception

In a positive review, Sonia Saraiya of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' offered the series praise saying: "This YouTube Red original has found an intriguing way to blend the mediums of dance, film, and soapy teen television, with an energetic, conscious new installment in the series that is a lot of fun to get sucked into." In another favorable critique, ''Decider''s Kayla Cobb described the series as "a genuinely compelling and dramatic story that very well may stand as the best narrative installment of the ''Step Up'' universe."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Step Up 2010s American drama television series 2010s American high school television series 2020s American drama television series 2020s American high school television series 2018 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings English-language television shows Live action television shows based on films Television series about educators Television series about teenagers Television series by Lionsgate Television Television shows set in Atlanta Television series impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic YouTube Premium original series Starz original programming American television series revived after cancellation Step Up (film series) Dance television shows Hip hop television