Fans of Young Royals are bracing themselves for the final season which is imminent. The series is released on the 11th March with the final episode releasing globally on the 18th March. This is a huge moment for Netflix and its Nordic series – one that has seen close to 10 million hours worth of viewing!
The LGBTQ+ Netflix drama from Sweden has been an enormous success, capturing the hearts of audiences not just in Sweden but from all over the world. Alex got to speak to the series’ creator, Lisa Ambjorn, about the pressure of completing the series and its phenomenal success.
It is worth noting that this article does not have any spoilers however it would be recommended that you have seen the first two seasons of the series before reading on.
‘I can’t believe I have been doing this for 5 years, half a decade of my life and it has been glorious‘, Lisa says over video call from Stockholm. ‘I don’t think it has sunk in yet that it’s all close to ending‘.
Young Royals was one of the first series we had watched which opened up a genre that we had not really seen before. Our focus had been on all the thrillers, dramas, and ‘Nordic noirs’, but here was this story about the prince of Sweden going to a prestigious boarding school and falling in love with another guy – creating a world of frenzied fans of the couple.
What does Lisa think has been the secret to the success of this series and how has she handled the pressure finishing the series?
‘I have tried to answer the question on how this series has hit home with so many people before but I am not sure I really know. I think there is something which everyone can relate to even if it is focused on royalty – we have all gone through the pains of realising how the world is so unfair‘, Lisa explains. ‘All I did was take that feeling and put it in a situation where the characters have huge repercussions when they react to particular things, especially if they are in the Royal family‘.
The series doesn’t just follow the exploits of Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) and Simon (Omar Rudberg) – around them are their fellow students who also have had various situations happen to them. Over the past three seasons we have grown to love these characters and now the series is coming to a end.
Lisa has been on a journey with this series – it started in 2019 when she started working on creating it. She knew that there was going to be a queer audience, whether they would like it or not she wasn’t sure but she knew that was where her audience was at. She soon found out the reaction – everyone liked it.
‘I have been really interested in studying the fandom for this series. It is something I have always been fascinated by and so I was studying the fans as they were studying the series‘, which sounds all very meta. ‘I learnt to distance myself from being influenced with the creative process to prevent myself from delivering a fanservice and rather finishing the series how I had always set out to finish it‘.
Lisa explains how she has turned off her social media for weeks and how much she has felt the pressure when being involved with the series. Where adults can pick things up and put things down, the younger generation of viewers sees the series as symbolising everything.
‘If I wrote something on Instagram I might let down someone because I haven’t upheld what people have wanted‘
This isn’t made any easier when we live in a world where we can never all be happy and there is always someone who has an opinion they want to share – its an incredible amount of pressure. Even if you just search for Young Royals groups on Facebook you will be met with hundreds of them – each filled with thousands of fans discussing, daily, all the things they love from the series, the things they want to see, details that even the actors or directors may not have even picked up on.
Focusing on the new series, and it is very noticeable in this final season how much the characters have matured and grown with it. The series feels very polished in terms of how it looks but also how tidily the characters story arcs are all beginning to form as we head towards the finale.
Whereas in the previous seasons, certainly season one, it felt a lot looser. Everyone partied in each episode, some shady things went on but it didn’t feel like a lot was at stake. That all changed in season two and this leads to this fascinating final story.
‘The first document I wrote for Young Royals was basically all the seasons smashed into the first season because you never know whether you might only get the one season, so I threw everything in there. Then I started to trusted the process and season three has always been the season I have been longing to write‘.
Lisa knew it was going to be the hardest season to write, the minute she took away the fact that Wilhelm and Simon is a secret and come out as a couple there was a motive to find another angle that the series can be focused on. What are the new challenges they are going to face?
‘I swear I could do a 9 hour debate with just Wilhelm and Simon talking‘, she jokes, though we are sure people would pay good money for that too!
The third season’s success lies in the fact that everyone was very much in communication with one another which kept everyone on the same page. Lisa said how she would sit down with the directors to go through each scene and shape everything with a creative flow.
‘It was so much fun and inspiring to be so involved – the vibe on set was just amazing. I honestly had the best time working on Young Royals and the previous seasons – but this one really was my favourite to work on‘.
Season three brings a lot of what the previous season are brilliant at – a thumping soundtrack that mixes everything from pop to choirs, classical pieces to Swedish Hip Hop; it’s a blend of so many genres that match the characters and colours of the new season. Even the font is on point (if you know you know).
‘I have some moments to myself – even when I have seen everything a millions times now – where I just start bawling away as I am so proud. In fact you’ll probably just see me crying all the time in the documentary that is being released on the same day as the final episode‘.
One thing that caught us by surprise about the final season was how it had almost gone a bit existential – which we hadn’t really seen coming. There are a lot more deeper issues that come to the fore with this season, with each character tackling various challenges.
Lisa nods her head in agreement; ‘There is a very simplistic way to describe Young Royals, and sometimes you have do it that way, but I could never have written it without it having those existential questions – I wanted to explore those stories‘.
Stepping aside from the deep storylines I wanted to find out from Lisa something a little more fun. The series has been well known for its various parties it has in each episode, this has been part of research the team has done and though perhaps not as grand as those featured in the series they do actually happen. But if Lisa was able to attend one of those parties from any of the seasons, which one would it be?
‘I think it would have to be the forest rave in the new season, that’s the only one I think I would feel most comfortable attending‘.
The final season of Young Royals is available now worldwide on Netflix with the season finale and a special documentary being released on the 18th March.
