''Young Royals'' is a Swedish

teen drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...

series on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. Set at the fictional elite

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

Hillerska, the plot primarily follows the fictional Prince Wilhelm of Sweden (

Edvin Ryding Lars Edvin Folke Ryding (born 4 February 2003) is a Swedish actor. He debuted in the TV series ''Mannen under trappan'' in 2009 at the age of 6 years. Since then Ryding has acted in several other productions like ''Fröken Frimans krig'', '' The ...

), his romance with fellow male student Simon Eriksson (

Omar Rudberg Omar Josué Rudberg (né González; born 12 November 1998) is a Venezuelan-Swedish singer and actor. Before launching his solo music career in 2018, he gained recognition and began his professional music career in 2013 as a member of the Swedish ...

), and the drama it results in. The show was created by Lisa Ambjörn, Lars Beckung, and Camilla Holter, and premiered on 1 July 2021. On 22 September 2021, the series was renewed for a second season, which was released on 1 November 2022. In December 2022, the series was renewed for a third and final season.

Cast and characters

Main

as Prince Wilhelm "Wille" of Sweden, next in line to Sweden's throne after his older brother, Erik *

as Simon Eriksson, a rising star in Hillerska's choir, a scholarship and non-boarding student; Sara's brother and Wilhelm's love interest. * Malte Gårdinger as August Horn of Årnäs, a member of a

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

and second cousin of Wilhelm and Erik, third-year student,

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

and captain of the rowing team *Frida Argento as Sara Eriksson, a scholarship non-boarding student and Simon's sister, who has social difficulty as a result of her

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in Interpersonal relationship, social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and re ...

and

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inapp ...

*Nikita Uggla as Felice Ehrencrona, a boarding student and member of the " modern nobility"

Recurring

Pernilla August Pernilla August (; born Mia Pernilla Hertzman-Ericson; 13 February 1958) is a Swedes, Swedish actor, actress, film director, director and screenwriter. Being one of Sweden's leading actresses and a longtime collaborator with director Ingmar Bergm ...

as Queen Kristina of Sweden, the

Queen regnant A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank and title to a king, who reigns ''suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a "kingdom"; as opposed to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reignin ...

of Sweden and Wilhelm and Erik's mother *Carmen Gloria Pérez as Linda, Simon’s and Sara's mother *Inti Zamora Sobrado as Ayub, Simon's friend from Bjärstad *Beri Gerwise as Rosh, Simon's friend from Bjärstad *Ivar Forsling as Prince Erik (season 1), the crown prince of Sweden and Wilhelm's older brother *

Leonard Terfelt Leonard Daniel Andreas Terfelt, originally Jonson, born 20 August 1976 in Hagersten, is a Swedish actor."Leonard Terfelt". The Swedish Film Read October 8, 2013. Career Terfelt made his film debut in 2000 in ''Jalla! Jalla!''. In 2007, he had the ...

as Micke (season 1), Simon’s and Sara's father *

Ingela Olsson Ingela Maria Olsson (born 28 February 1958 in Nybro, Sweden) is a Swedish actress. Olsson was active in many different theatre groups during the 1980s. She started working at the Galeasen theatre in 1989, and appeared at Stockholms stadsteat ...

as Miss Anette Lilja, Hillerska's headmistress *Felicia Truedsson as Stella, Felice's friend and a student at Hillerska *Mimmi Cyon as Fredrika, Felice's friend and a student at Hillerska *Nathalie Varli as Madison McCoy, Felice's friend and an international student at Hillerska *Samuel Astor as Nils, August's friend and a student at Hillerska. In the second season, he also

came out of the closet Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

. *Xiao-Long Rathje Zhao as Alexander, August's friend and a student at Hillerska *Fabian Penje as Henry, August's friend and a student at Hillerska *Nils Wetterholm as Vincent, August's friend and a student at Hillerska *Tommy Wättring as Marcus (season 2), Simon's love interest *Magnus Ehrner as Jan Olof Munck (season 2), a royal adviser

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2022)

Production

Filming

The series was mostly filmed at

Kaggeholms gård Kaggeholms gård is a manor at Ekerö Municipality in Stockholm County, Sweden. History The site was first mentioned in a land title document in 1287. During the 1500s, the farm was owned by members of the Grip and Bååt families. In 1647, Coun ...

, a manor-style building located in Stockholm County that is operated as a conference center. The scenes that took place at the royal palace were filmed at

Stora Sundby Castle Stora Sundby Castle ( sv, Stora Sundby slott) is a castle in Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The architectural features of the castle resembles those of a calendar, four large towers symbolizing the seasons, twelve small towe ...

. The six-episode series was created by Lisa Ambjörn, Lars Beckung and Camilla Holter, and premiered on

on 1 July 2021. On 22 September 2021, the series was renewed for a second season, which was released on 1 November 2022. In February 2022, Netflix began filming a second season. A promotional video was released on Instagram. Filming for the second season wrapped in May 2022.

Casting

In January 2021, long before the announcement of the series' release date,

, Malte Gårdinger, Frida Argento, Nikita Uggla and

were announced to have been cast in the starring roles while Nathalie Varli, Felicia Truedsson, Mimmi Cyon,

, Rennie Mirro,

Livia Millhagen Livia Maria Millhagen (born 23 May 1973) is a Swedish actress. Millhagen was born in Stockholm and studied at Malmö Theatre Academy 1995–99. In 1997 she appeared at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in August Strindberg's ''Fadren'', directed b ...

and David Lenneman were announced to have been cast in the recurring roles. Ryding was cast as Prince Wilhelm and August was cast to play his mother, Queen Kristina of Sweden. It was later announced that Rudberg would play Simon, Prince Wilhelm's love interest.

Marketing

The series' official teaser was released on 19 May 2021 with the official trailer released on 17 June 2021. On 15 December 2022 Ryding and Rudberg made their US TV debut as guests on

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...

, where they promoted Young Royals and its upcoming third and final season.

Reception

Viewership

The first season made it to the top 10 in 12 countries and was streamed for more than 9.8 million hours worldwide. In the first week after its release, the first season was ranked the 8th most streamed non-English language series on Netflix worldwide. The second season made it to the top 10 in 26 countries and was streamed more than 18 million hours in the first week. During this week, the second season was ranked the 3rd most streamed non-English language series on Netflix worldwide. In its second week, the second season was streamed more than 6.2 million hours. It was the 10th most-streamed non-English language series on Netflix

Critical reaction

''Young Royals'' received critical acclaim and positive responses from audiences. On the review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series holds an approval rating of 100%, based on five reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. It has been praised for its fidelity to real life in casting teenagers for teenage roles and showing skin textures with blemishes. Some critics and audiences compared the series favourably to similar shows such as ''

Elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

'', ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...

'', ''

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

'' and '' Skam''. David Opie of ''

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

'' praised ''Young Royals'' for "cast ngactors who actually look the age they're supposed to be playing" and "portray ngteenage life with some much-needed authenticity". He described the series as "an updated version of the classic Cinderella story" and concluded that the series "excels most ..when it comes to the central romance between Wilhelm and Simon". TV critic Flora Carr of ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' in a review of the first two episodes described the series as "predictable but heartfelt". She criticised the series' "checklist of teen-romance visuals" and "the plot's reliance on characters like August", but ultimately concluded that "the authentically teenage cast may also prove a breath of fresh air" for younger viewers. For the second season, Dieter Osswald of Swiss lifestyle magazine ''Display'' wrote: "Like stand-up characters, the separated lovers defy their fate and fight for their love. The chemistry between Edvin Ryding as the insecure prince and Omar Rudberg as the sensitive singer works even better than in the first season. Fans of creep August aka Malte Gardinger can look forward to bigger appearances with a strongly expanded role - including a naked phone call with the royal family."

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original current series 2020s high school television series 2020s LGBT-related drama television series 2020s Swedish television series 2020s teen drama television series 2021 Swedish television series debuts Autism in television Coming-of-age television shows Gay-related television shows High school television series Mass media portrayals of the upper class Swedish LGBT-related television series Swedish-language Netflix original programming Television series about dysfunctional families Television series about teenagers Television shows filmed in Sweden Television shows set in Sweden Television series about royalty Bisexuality-related television series Male bisexuality in fiction