Heartbreak High – Picture: Netflix
Netflix’s teen Australian reboot of high heartbreak premiered in September 2022, but will it return for a second season? Early reports suggested that the show had been renewed in early October, and then we received official confirmation shortly after. This is what we know about season 2 of high heartbreak on Netflix.
Rebooting the 90s show (available in full at most Netflix regions Worldwide), high heartbreak is a modernized high school romance drama comparable to other Netflix titles in the genre, such as Elite and this year’s stopshearts.
First announced in December 2020, the series finally launched on September 14, 2022.
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It was released to great critical acclaim, with many reviews praising the show’s diversity, with characters of different races, genders, and disabilities represented.
Netflix has renewed or canceled high heartbreak?
On October 19, Netflix Australia confirmed that we would be back for a second season.
for Press release:
“School is officially in session as Netflix has announced that Heartbreak High will be back for Season 2.
Produced by Fremantle Australia and NewBe, Heartbreak High Season 2 will bring together the talented cast and creators in Sydney (Gadigal Lands, Dharug, Dharawal and Ku-ring-gai), Australia for pre-production and filming.”
Heartbreak High season 2 renewal image – Image courtesy of Netflix
As you’ll see below, the series got off to a rocky start on Netflix and didn’t do well beyond Australia’s borders. No doubt there were many reasons for this (not least because the show’s reps actively discouraged coverage), but despite its initial blip, the series continued to find an audience and run the numbers.
Michael Sun of The Guardian (who previously worked at Netflix Australia as a culture editor) noted that the series had has been boosted thanks to TikTok (a phenomenon we’ve seen before lifting titles like ginny and georgia and purple hearts). At press time, the show had amassed 12.5 billion views on TikTok, likely drawing attention to Netflix.
The show was rumored to have been renewed before Netflix’s confirmation with The Daily Telegraph in Australia first reporting on October 2 that the show had been renewed for a second season.
Image: Netflix
When will Heartbreak High season 2 be on Netflix?
On May 28, 2023, Netflix ANZ on Twitter confirmed that production on the second season had begun.
Hey SLT! Grab some hot celebratory chippies: Heartbreak High: Season 2 has officially started production! #HeartbreakHigh pic.twitter.com/AXO8zlANBo
—Netflix ANZ (@NetflixANZ) May 28, 2023
Besides, tvtonight.com.au posted a first look video of the cast completing their first table read and also confirmed some of the returning cast:
«Returning cast includes Ayesha Madon, James Majoos, Chloé Hayden, Will McDonald, Chika Ikogwe and Gemma Chua-Tran.»
As for the release date, there hasn’t been an official release window, though since the show is now in production, it’s likely that it will return sometime in 2024.
how well he did high heartbreak act on netflix?
As we noted earlier, high heartbreak got off to a bad start on Netflix worldwide.
Let’s start with the top 10 Netflix figures compiled by Flix Patrol.
Even in Australia, the show only reached number 5 in the first few days before peaking at the top spot on September 21 and 22 before declining.
Below you can see a global heat map of where the program performed best. Australia and New Zealand naturally posted the highest numbers, but Eastern European countries and South Africa also did well.
Heatmap for Heartbreak High and point count in the first month on Netflix – Image: FlixPatrol
Moving on, Netflix’s top 10 site didn’t show up high heartbreak in Week 1, suggesting that the number was less than 12.22 million. This led us to report that high heartbreak it was considered a failure.
Following the show’s success on social media, viewership increased and the show charted in the top 10 for weeks 2 and 3, showing particularly impressive retention from week two to week three.
The show stayed in the top 10 world television (English) for 3 weeks, picking up 42.61 million hours globally between September 18 and October 9, 2022.
| week period | Hours seen (M) | Range | Week in the Top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 18, 2022 to September 25, 2022 | 18,250,000 | 6 | 1 |
| September 25, 2022 to October 2, 2022 | 14,880,000 (-18%) | 5 | 2 |
| October 2, 2022 to October 9, 2022 | 9,480,000 (-36%) | 8 | 3 |
What about external demand for the program?
televisionstats.com provides information on more traditional sources (such as Wikipedia, Google Search Trends, Twitter, Reddit, etc.) but notably does not include TikTok.
As a result, the show only became the twenty-eighth most requested show since its release.
Heartbreak High lawsuit – Image: TelevisionStats.com
are you happy to see high heartbreak returning for a second season? Let us know in the comments below.