Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation recently left regular cable and moved to Netflix-only streaming. Many of us feared that meant Degrassi would be gone for good, or at least that the TV series, which was on air for about 15 years, was on its last legs. With a slew of new characters and the same scandal-filled plot-lines, Degrassi was back with a new name, Degrassi: Next Class.
As much as we love the new series, there’s something that’s never been the same since the original cast aged out. Fortunately for us, we get our favorite class back for a very special 500th episode.
This special throwback episode features our favorite season one cast members. Marco is back; Paige is back; Spinner is back! Emma and Liberty are back! Craig even took a minute from his Broadway career (he’s in Spring Awakening!) to pay respect to his Degrassi High roots.
Now that the cast are all in their late 20’s, we’re seriously wondering what’s going to happen. If all that stuff — the murder, sex and drugs — happened when they were teens, what could they possibly be like as adults? It’s also right about the perfect time for the cast to have a 10 year high school reunion. We can’t wait to see how much they’ve changed!
In the past, Degrassi tried using the original cast in some episodes about college. Marco even came back as a teacher’s assistant, but it was never really the same as having the whole gang back at it together. We’re hoping this 500th captures the essence f why we fell in love with Degrassi in the first place.
One unfortunate note: Drake is noticeably absent from the promo video. It looks like the rapper is way too busy being famous to reprise his role as Jimmy Brooks. It makes sense that if he grew up into a famous rapper, he wouldn’t have time to attend his high school reunion anyway, but we were still hoping. Remember what put you on the map, Drake! You’ll always be Jimmy in our hearts.
Degrassi’s 500th episode will air on Netflix on July 22nd.
