Heartbreak High is an Australian comedy drama television series created for Netflix by Hannah Carroll Chapman. The series follows the students and teachers of Hartley High as they navigate racial tensions in Australia, high school romances, and all sorts of teen angst. It is a soft reboot of the 1994 series (itself a spin-off of the 1993 feature film The Heartbreak Kid) first screened on Network Ten. It features an ensemble cast including Ayesha Madon, Thomas Weatherall, Bryn Chapman Parish, Asher Yasbincek, James Majoos, Chloé Hayden, Will McDonald, Gemma Chua-Tran, Sherry-Lee Watson, Josh Heuston, Brodie Townsend, Chika Ikogwe, Scott Major and Rachel House. Sam Rechner, Kartanya Maynard, and Angus Sampson joined the series in its second season. Ioane Sa'ula, Aki Munroe, William McKenna and Ben Turland joined in its third and final season.
Heartbreak High premiered on Netflix on 14 September 2022. The following month, it was renewed for a second season, which premiered on 11 April 2024. Production for the third and final season began in November 2024, with Netflix releasing the final season on March 25, 2026. The first season received universal acclaim from critics, while the second season divided critics and audiences. The performances and costumes in both seasons were met with praise. It has received numerous accolades, including an International Emmy Award and six AACTA Awards (of 15 nominations).
Contents
Premise
Season 1
After a detailed diagram of which students have been sexually involved is discovered graffitied on the wall of the school, all of the students whose names were on it are forced to attend a new sexual education course called the Sexual Literacy Tutorial (SLT, pronounced "sluts" by the students). The map's creator, Amerie Wadia (Ayesha Madon), becomes a social outcast after taking the fall for its co-author, Harper McLean (Asher Yasbincek), who has stopped talking to her following a tragedy at a music festival they attended. Later, Amerie learns that Harper was kidnapped by Chook's crew after the music festival. Ca$h (Will McDonald), a mate of Harper who's part of Chook's gang, helps her escape. She couldn't stay at Amerie's house for support because Amerie was having sex with Spider (Bryn Chapman Parish), which is why she hates her. Amerie and Harper make up, and most of the gang gets arrested.
Season 2
The recurring theme for Season 2 begins with an unknown perpetrator dismantling Amerie (Ayesha Madon)'s reputation one incident at a time, the first being a dead ibis bird left on her school bag. This first incident earns them the name "Bird Psycho" as the main characters—particularly Quinni (Chloé Hayden)—try to uncover their identity. Keeping in theme with Season 1, relationships are formed and broken. Amerie consistently drops hints that she is interested in Malakai (Thomas Weatherall), but Malakai, questioning his sexuality, dates Rowan (Sam Rechner) instead. Notably, Harper (Asher Yasbincek) and Anthony (Brodie Townsend) get together while Harper is still dealing with the trauma of her kidnapping from Season 1. Spider and Missy also start dating in secret. Ca$h (Will McDonald), who is let out of jail, tries to avoid the other eshays, but the leader, Chook (Tom Wilson), tries to contact him throughout the season. Aiming to repair her reputation, Amerie runs for school captain, but the vote eventually goes to Quinni, who is running as her vice captain and unmasking her autistic traits. The season concludes with the burning of the Hartley High gymnasium during the school formal, as Bird Psycho's identity and motivation are revealed, while Malakai decides to leave for Geneva.
Season 3
Season 3 follows Amerie and her friends as they begin their final year at Hartley High and prepare for graduation and life beyond school. Amerie struggles to balance her future ambitions with her complicated relationships, particularly as Malakai returns to Hartley after leaving for Switzerland. Harper also faces uncertainty about her future given all the trauma she's been through, while Darren and Ca$h begin making plans for their lives after graduation. Quinni continues navigating school while pursuing her passion for writing, and her relationship with newcomer Taz develops throughout the season. Meanwhile, Missy and Spider's relationship faces difficulties as they begin considering their individual futures, and Sasha takes on a more prominent role at school. The season's main conflict begins when a rivalry with St. Bruno's leads Amerie and her friends into a dangerous prank that has serious consequences, forcing them to deal with the fallout while trying to uncover what really happened. As graduation approaches, the students are forced to confront their relationships, ambitions, mistakes, and uncertain futures.
Cast
Main
Ayesha Madon as Amerie Wadia, a brash, working-class Indian-Australian student who becomes a pariah
Thomas Weatherall as Malakai Mitchell, a Bundjalung basketball jock new to Hartley
Bryn Chapman Parish as Spencer 'Spider' White, the class clown
Asher Yasbincek as Harper McLean, Amerie's best friend who falls out with her in episode 1
James Majoos as Darren Rivers, a student who befriends Amerie.
Chloé Hayden as Quinn 'Quinni' Gallagher-Jones, Darren's best friend who is autistic.
Will McDonald as Douglas 'Ca$h' Piggott, an eshay, drug dealer, and food delivery driver
Gemma Chua-Tran as Sasha So, a Chinese-Australian student who is heavily politically involved.
Sherry-Lee Watson as Missy Beckett, an Indigenous student who used to be involved with Sasha
Joshua Heuston as Dustin 'Dusty' Reid, a musician involved with Harper (season 1; guest season 2-3)
Brodie Townsend as Anthony 'Ant' Vaughn, an affable, big-hearted student
Chika Ikogwe as Josephine 'Jojo' Obah, English and SLT's teacher
Scott Major as Peter Rivers, Darren's father (season 1, reprising his role from the 1994 series)
Rachel House as Principal Stacy 'Woodsy' Woods, the performatively woke school principal
Recurring and notable guest stars
Isabella Gutierrez as Chaka Cardenes (seasons 1–2, reprising her role from the 1994 series)
Ben Oxenbould as Justin McLean, Harper's dad (season 1)
Justin Smith as Jim the Maintenance Man (season 1)
Sandy Sharma as Huma Wadia, Amerie's mother (seasons 1–2)
Tom Wilson as Michael 'Chook' Cooper, leader of the eshays and Ca$h's friend (seasons 1–2)
Kye McMaster as Tilla, Ca$h's friend (season 1)
Ari McCarthy as Jayden, Ca$h's friend (season 1)
Shivadhya Mehta as Yasmin, Amerie's younger sister (seasons 1-2)
Rudra Mehta as Naseem, Amerie's younger brother (seasons 1-2)
Natascha Borg as Mrs Vaughn, Ant's mother (season 1)
Bolude Watson as Anne, Darren's mother (season 1)
Maggie Dence as Nan, Ca$h's grandmother
Kobie Dee as Jai Beckett, Missy's older brother (seasons 1, 3)
Robyn Malcolm as Cait White, Spider's mother (season 2)
Stephen Hunter as Coach Arkell (season 1)
Jeremy Lindsay Taylor as Kurt Peterson (season 1, reprising his role from the 1994 series)
Episodes
Production
The series is a soft-reboot of the 1994 series first screened on Network Ten. The series follow the students and teachers of Hartley High as they navigate racial tensions in Australia, high school romances, and all sorts of teen angst.
The series was announced in December 2020. The TV series was mostly filmed in South Sydney High School, in the suburbs of Maroubra and Matraville of New South Wales between November 2021 and February 2022.
A second season was announced on 19 October 2022. Production on the second season began on 28 May 2023 and wrapped on 29 August 2023. It was released on 11 April 2024.
A third and final season was announced on 9 May 2024. Production on the third season began on 4 November 2024 and wrapped on 6 February 2025. It was released on March 25, 2026.
Release
The first season premiered on 14 September 2022. The second season premiered on 11 April 2024. The third season premiered on 25 March 2026.
Reception
Audience viewership
The first season of Heartbreak High debuted at number six on Netflix's Top 10 TV English titles for the tracking week of 19–25 September 2022 with 18.25 million hours viewed. On the following week, it climbed to number five and garnered 14.88 million viewing hours. The series remained in the top 10 for the third week, placing at number eight with 9.48 million viewing hours.
The second season debuted at number seven on Netflix's Top 10 TV English titles for the tracking week of 8–14 April 2024 with 15.8 million hours viewed. On the following week, it climbed to number five and garnered 20 million viewing hours. On its third week, it ranked at number nine, earning 12 million viewing hours.
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season an approval rating of 100%, based on reviews from ten critics, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The second season has an approval rating of 57%, based on reviews from six critics, with an average rating of 6.4/10.
The show received praise for its racial, sexuality, gender and neurodivergent representation, realism towards modern teenhood, costumes and visuals. It was also positively compared to other popular modern teen dramas (which viewers found it very similar to), including Euphoria, Never Have I Ever and Sex Education. Alex Henderson of The Conversation said that the show addressed serious topics like substance abuse, discrimination or youth crime, but still uses comical moments and avoids cliché moments whilst showing mistakes made by the characters. Mitchell Adams of The Sydney Morning Herald commented on the representation of autism, saying "scenes where Quinni feels overwhelmed just sitting on a bus, or being at a party while forcing herself to mask how she feels in order to better fit in and not upset people, depict a pain neurodivergent people know all too well". Collider named the series as one of the best new TV shows of 2022.