This week on TVOlogy, Summer TV Preview Week gives you an exclusive look at five of our favorite returning series. Here, Terron R. Moore prepares for the looming 12th season of TeenNick's Degrassi in a conversation with show creator Stephen Stohn.
Summer TV Preview Week
True Blood (Monday) | Suits (Tuesday) | Futurama (Wednesday)
Awkward. (Thursday) | Degrassi (Friday)
It's curious whether anything will—if anything can—stop TeenNick's hit series Degrassi, the landmark Canadian import that doubles as an American phenomenon where painfully earnest, coyly attractive high schoolers grippingly tackle sexuality, friendships, love, other drugs, and the growing pains that greet the tragic loss of innocence in youth. Despite an uncanny knack for launching bonafide stars (Nina Dobrev, Shenae Grimes, Drake) there's just no way that a show thrives for twelve seasons without constantly reinventing itself, determinedly keeping pace with the pulse of teenagerdom, consistently asserting its own stance within the ginormous landscape of the small screen: that if there's any teen drama to be a must-watch, it's this one.
| Related: What's the best Degrassi episode ever? Vote and decide |
The summer months are Degrassi's bread and butter, stuffing 20 of its 40 new episodes into just four weeks of nightly drama. This year's sprint, entitled Showdown, starts on July 16th and doesn't let go, and while show creator Stephen Stohn wasn't spilling specifics, we talked to him about how the events of last season will transition into Showdown, and where the show's most notorious couples go from here.
The first question on everyone's mind, obviously, is who is leaving the show after this season.
STEPHEN STOHN: I can answer that honestly—some people will be leaving at the end of this year, but we don’t know exactly who. The writing process is very organic, and the final episodes are still being written. We’ve been asked the same question by some of the actors due to be graduating—"am I graduating? Am I gone? Am I coming back next year?"—and we’ve had to say the same thing to them. Secretly, of course, we have some idea.
So Showdown seems to heavily push the Drew-Katie-Bianca triangle this season.
We know, clearly, that that triangle is carrying on. And whenever you have a triangle like that, fireworks ensue—and I think we can expect a lot of fireworks.
If you were watching the show as a viewer, who would you think is better for Drew?
You know, it’s one of those questions that you answer in your own way and never know the right one. One thing that I do know is that at a certain point you just have to make a choice, and the choice has to be no regrets—otherwise you’re not being true to yourself and you’re certainly not being true to the people you pick or you don’t pick. So to me, if Drew is becoming a man, he is going to have to make a decision and stick with it in Showdown.
Let's talk Eli and Clare.
Well, we left Eli and Clare at the end of season 11 with the kiss. Now there’s been a break and they’re coming back, and the big question is going to be was that just a kiss, or was it a kiss? So once that's resolved, that determines in many ways how that particular relationship will end or not end.
Do fans get a quick answer to that, or will this be a season journey?
I can say that it happens in the premiere week.
Creatively, what went into bringing Eli and Clare back together?
We always try in Degrassi to be as authentic as possible. You know that. It’s always been a mantra, and life has a way of bringing people together and pulling people apart. At the same time, there's always been inherent in their characters something that made that relationship special. That’s something that goes on in so many different relationships in real life. Maybe you yourself have had a relationship that was very intense, and for whatever reason broke off… but then maybe you see the person in a new light a few months later after both of you moved on. You may want to try it out, but at the same time, there’s a lot of fear in trying it out.
Since the promos haven't highlighted her very much, where is Clare headed this season?
Well, Clare this season—and I don’t want to get into whether she does or does not have a relationship with anybody—but she has a very interesting arc [in Showdown]. Clare is going to go on a journey that’s going to reveal an awful lot about herself. Quite an interesting journey: in some ways, a shocking journey.
Does any of it involve Jake?
I cannot answer that.
The fans have also been worried about the lack of Fiona and Imogen in the promos, and whether or not we'd see as much of them this year.
That’s interesting- we are going to see certainly more of both of those characters. Quite deep things are going to happen to each of them over the course of the season, and I think we’re going to learn a lot about of what each of them are made of.
Why did you decide to dive into Imogen's sexuality toward the end of last season?
Well, Imogen is a really interesting character. Her quirkiness is a real attraction, but it also makes you wonder where she’s coming from. And in many ways, Imogen herself doesn’t know where she’s coming from some of the time, and I think there is a journey to be had for her to find out more about herself and what has made her the person that she is, and does she want to carry on [in this way]? She may be on a journey and have no idea where it’s leading.
| Related: News, interviews, recaps, more- follow DegrassiOlogy |
Speaking of Imogen's journey, those passionate Elimogen fans are upset that their relationship was so short-lived.
Yeah. And they’re just as passionate as some of the other relationships. But again, that's life. I mean, Eli was grappling a lot of things within himself over the course of season 11, and that's the kind of situation where you find yourself [wondering if] you should plunge headfirst into a long relationship. And I think [at that time] the answer [was] no.
Jenna and K.C.
I can say that both of them have a really compelling storyline that in both cases is entirely unexpected. I think it’ll be unexpected by the audience and entirely unexpected by the characters, and yet when we look back at the end of the summer, we’ll say "Yeah, it may have been unexpected, but it really resonated exactly with their characters."
Next month, we're presenting The 50 Greatest Degrassi Episodes Ever. What would be yours?
First of all, there’s so many. There are the obvious ones like J.T.'s death and the school shooting, but I would go with the very first episode of all, "Mother and Child Reunion". It was very moving to me, and the entire process of restarting Degrassi and creating the storyline of Emma and the internet predator, creating the new world, was a very emotional time for many of us here. And seeing it come to life, we were so pleased with how the story unfolded, and we loved the cast. If I wanted to watch any one of the 317—by the end of this year it’ll be 317 Degrassis—at this moment, I would be intrigued to watch Emma and the internet stalker in episode one. But I do have to say that one of my all-time favorite episodes might very well be in this season… but you can’t write about it till this season happens!
Degrassi Season 12 premieres July 16th at 10pm on TeenNick, with new episodes Monday-Thursday.
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