5 reasons to watch ‘Young Royals’

Starring Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg, “Young Royals” follows Prince Wilhelm (Ryding), heir to the Swedish throne, who develops a romance with Simon (Rudberg), a non-resident from a working class family, while studying in a prestigious Swedish boarding school.

The teen drama genre may be saturated but with amazing chemistry and thoughtful storytelling, the show wins you over after a well paced six-episode first season. If you haven’t watched the Netflix Original Series yet, here are five reasons why you should:

The characters are not overly sexualized

Steamy bedroom montages are the stuff of young adult programming these days, sometimes for romance, most times just for mere titillation. “Young Royals” tones down the glossy sex with more grounded scenarios like an awkward hook-up or a DIY waxing session with the girls. While these kids live in a boarding school bubble, their experience and struggles as teenagers are still rooted in real life.

Edvin and Omar’s chemistry is beautiful to watch

Some scene partners just click, and the show really lucked out on these two. Would you believe this is Rudberg’s acting debut? The stolen glances, the magnetic push-and-pull between Wilhelm and Simon, the way they interact—their quiet, tender moments together are the most powerful and memorable. That scene by the fish tank was particularly brilliant.

It normalizes imperfections and body diversity

Hollywood and other showbiz industries usually cast actors with flawless skin, guys with washboard abs or girls who are a size 2. But on this show, the actors have textured skin, acne and all, and they don’t try to cover it up; and a curvy girl like Felice isn’t picked on for something as superficial as her body. As sad as it sounds, that’s pretty groundbreaking and especially important for the youth to see.

Sexuality isn’t the main conflict of the plot

While most queer-oriented media tackle the big coming out story (which is still relevant and important, of course), it’s not the case here, at least not for the most part. Simon is already out to his friends and family and while their video scandal inevitably outs Wilhelm in the process, the fallout doesn’t solely focus on addressing his sexual orientation. Ultimately, it’s a question of whether he chooses love or the crown.

It avoids the annoying cliches seen on many TV shows

Case in point: Animosity between female characters. Although Felice and Sara don’t start off too well, the two eventually become good friends, even when they come from very different walks of life. It’s refreshing to see girls raising each other up instead of competing, especially for a guy. Women supporting women? We love to see it!

The first season of “Young Royals” is currently streaming on Netflix.