Heartbreak High – Picture: Netflix
Netflix’s teen Australian reboot of Heartbreak High was released in September 2022, but will it return for a second season? Early reports suggested the show had been renewed as of early October, and then we got official confirmation soon after. Here’s what we know about season 2 of Heartbreak High on Netflix.
Rebooting the 90s show (available in full in most regions of Netflix around the globe), Heartbreak High is a modernized high school romance drama comparable to Netflix’s other titles in the genre, such as Elite and this year’s Heartstopper.
First announced in December 2020, the series was eventually released on September 14th, 2022.
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It was released to high critical praise, with many reviews praising the show’s diversity, with characters from different races, genders, and disabilities represented.
Has Netflix Renewed or Canceled Heartbreak High?
On October 19th, Netflix Australia confirmed that we’d return for a second season.
Per a press release:
“School is officially back in session, as Netflix has announced Heartbreak High will return for Season 2.
Produced by Fremantle Australia and NewBe, season 2 of Heartbreak High will see the talented cast and creators reassemble in Sydney (Gadigal, Dharug, Dharawal and Ku-ring-gai lands), Australia for pre-production and filming.”
Heartbreak High season 2 renewal picture – Picture courtesy of Netflix
As you’ll see below, the series had a rough start on Netflix, failing to perform well beyond the borders of Australia. There was no doubt many reasons for this (not least because of reps for the show actively discouraging coverage), but despite its initial road bump, the series went on to find an audience and do the numbers.
The Guardian’s Michael Sun (who previously worked at Netflix Australia as a culture editor) noted that the series had been boosted thanks to TikTok (a phenomenon we’ve seen before lifting titles like Ginny & Georgia and Purple Hearts). As of the time of publishing, the show had amassed 12.5B views on TikTok, likely driving eyeballs onto Netflix.
The show was rumored to have been renewed ahead of Netflix’s confirmation with The Daily Telegraph in Australia first reporting on October 2nd that the show had been renewed for a second season.
Picture: Netflix
When will Heartbreak High season 2 be on Netflix?
On May 28th, 2023, Netflix ANZ on Twitter confirmed that the second season had begun production.
Oi SLTs! Grab some celebratory hot chippies — Heartbreak High: Season 2 has officially started production! #HeartbreakHigh pic.twitter.com/AXO8zlANBo
— Netflix ANZ (@NetflixANZ) May 28, 2023
In addition, TVTonight.com.au posted a first-look video of the cast completing their first table read plus also confirmed some of the returning cast:
“Returning cast include Ayesha Madon, James Majoos, Chloé Hayden, Will McDonald, Chika Ikogwe and Gemma Chua-Tran.”
As for a release date, there’s been no official release window although given the show is now in production, it’s likely the show will return at some point in 2024.
How well did Heartbreak High perform on Netflix?
As we noted above, Heartbreak High got off to a poor start on Netflix around the globe.
Let’s start with the raw Netflix top 10 figures collected by FlixPatrol.
Even in Australia, the show only reached #5 in the first few days before hitting the top spot for September 21st and 22nd before tailing off.
Below, you can see a global heatmap as to where the show performed the best. Australia and New Zealand naturally saw the highest numbers, but countries within Eastern Europe and South Africa also performed well.
Heat map for Heartbreak High and points tally in first month on Netflix – Picture: FlixPatrol
Moving on, Netflix’s top 10 site didn’t feature Heartbreak High in week 1, suggesting the number was under 12.22M. This led us to report that Heartbreak High was considered a flop.
Following the show’s success on social media, viewership rose, and the show featured in the top 10s for weeks 2 and 3, showing a particularly impressive hold from the second to the third week.
The show remained in the global TV (English) top 10s for 3 weeks picking up 42.61 million hours globally between September 18th and October 9th, 2022.
| Week Period | Hours Viewed(M) | Rank | Week in Top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 18th, 2022 to September 25th, 2022 | 18,250,000 | 6 | 1 |
| September 25th, 2022 to October 2nd, 2022 | 14,880,000 (-18%) | 5 | 2 |
| October 2nd, 2022 to October 9th, 2022 | 9,480,000 (-36%) | 8 | 3 |
How about external demand for the show?
TelevisionStats.com provides some insight into more traditional sources (such as Wikipedia, Google Search Trends, Twitter, Reddit, etc) but notably doesn’t feature TikTok.
As a result, the show only ever became the 28th most in-demand show since its release.
Demand for Heartbreak High – Picture: TelevisionStats.com
Are you happy to see Heartbreak High returning for a second season? Let us know in the comments down below.
