The Degrassi kids are back yet again. The new series, greenlit last January, is based on the long-running Canadian franchise about the teenage middle and high school experience. It debuts on HBO Max next year.
“It’s unbelievable to have been part of something that people are still talking about close to 20 years later,” Ellis said.“I was thinking, ‘Oh, isn’t it great as a society that we’re working through these things and we’ll move past this type of thing occurring,’” Ellis said, conceding no one could have predicted that gun violence would only increase since his time on the series.
“I don’t want to put down ‘90210’ or any of those other shows, but they were just more bougie. ‘Degrassi’ always dealt with real teen issues that teens were going through. Bullying, drug abuse, violence, teen pregnancy. We weren’t afraid to go there.” McDonald said that she battled her illness between the ages of 12 and 15, and faced it head on when an anorexia storyline was written for Emma.Ana Golja played Zoë Rivas on the series from 2013 to 2017. One of her first storylines involved being sexually assaulted at a party. It was based on an actual case from 2012 in Steubenville, Ohio, where two teenagers were convicted in juvenile court for the rape of a minor.
Billy Parrott played Shane McKay, Emma’s father, on “Degrassi Junior High” . He believes Canadian programming is just more relatable. As with Ellis’s storyline, Parrott broke new ground when his character was involved in one of the first dramatic depictions of teen pregnancy with Christine “Spike” Nelson .
Original cast member Stacie Mistysyn knows a thing or two about breaking barriers on TV. She played two characters during the show’s run. She was first cast as “Lisa Canard” on “Kids of Degrassi Street” from 1982 to ’86 and then played Caitlin Ryan on “Degrassi Junior High” . She also returned as a recurring character for “Degrassi: The Next Generation” between 2002 and 2006.“It wasn’t edgy just for the sake of being edgy,” the actor said about her time on the show.
“I remember when they threw in the female masturbation storyline … I had never seen anyone cover that in my life! I didn’t even know it existed,” Waisglass admitted. “I remember being like ‘Oh my god, the writers are so good at their jobs because so many other little girls are not going to think it is taboo anymore.’”“I think it’s hard when you are finding your sense of self to also be playing a character.
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