New school term, new mystery. Beautiful young bodies still make out, in ever more surprising combinations, in “Elite” Season 2.
But there are greater depths and ambition to the Netflix Spanish high-school hit, if the first two episodes of Season 2 and a Madrid press conference involving cast and creators are anything to go by.
First details of “Elite” Season 2 come as the series has been renewed for Season 3, Diego Avalos, director of originals in Spain, announced at the Thursday presentation.
Season 2 follows a tried and tested flash forward format. In the first season of “Elite” someone is murdered. In Season 2, someone goes missing. As the hours tick by – 36 at least by the end of Ep. 2, – hope of finding them alive plunges dramatically.
That set-up gives the suspense thrust to “Elite” Season 2, the Spanish teen crime/social thriller which, produced once more by Zeta Audiovisual, bows on Netflix worldwide on Sept. 6.
With the original watched by over 20 million household accounts in its first month of release, according to Netflix, a new season marks one of the biggest global drama series plays to come out of Spain.
In several ways, however, “Elite” Season 2 marks a departure, its innovations driving much discussion at the Madrid press conference when series creators Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona and series’ cast fielded questions from Avalos and the press.
“We wanted to keep the fast-forward formula as a staple of the series, but at the same time be different,” said Madrona.
Most obviously, in terms of innovation, there are new characters. One is Lu’s brother, Valerio- “half brother,” he repeatedly corrects – an ecstasy guzzling party-party addition to Las Encinas, his hedonism hiding hurt. He is played by Chilean Jorge López (“Soy Luna”), as Netflix builds its pan- Spanish-language-world star system.
“Valerio has a super-rich interior world. It’s been doubly surprising to get to a new country but feel so comfortable,” López said at the press conference.
Claudia Salas (“The Plague”) plays Rebeca, an outspoken but stylish working-class girl – think Nairobi of “La Casa de Papel” or Spanish singer Rosalía – . who teaches Samuel to box; Georgina Amorós (“Locked Up”) is Cayetana, a budding Internet icon with 39,000 plus Instagram followers.
“Elite” 1 and 2 both have a “Big Little Lies” structure: Scenes flash forward to the police officer of Season 1 again questioning suspects. But “Elite” 2 may in many ways bear more similarities to “Stranger Things” Season 3, whose first two seasons were majorly plot-driven.
The characters in “Elite’s” original season border stereotypes: the Mexican rich bitch (Lu), the working class bit of rough (Cristian), the neo-aristo macho (Guzmán). but they escape total buttonholing.
Now, having established audience character engagement, “Elite” 2, like “ST 3, drives deeper into their interaction, in continued coming of age narratives which are deeply inflected by class and economics.
