Technically it’s been confirmed for a while, but this whole situation has been so out of the ordinary it was hard to believe it was actually happening. Australia will be the first in the world to broadcast Degrassi: Next Class Season 2 on Monday, May 30 (Memorial Day here in the U.S.). And for the first time ever, Australia is the largest blip on the Degrassi fandom’s radar.
The hope is that Australia will release a Season 2 promo at some point between now and Monday’s broadcast, but as of now it seems unlikely according to a response on their Facebook page:
So what in the hell has been happening?
*Australian network ABC3 started airing Season 1 of Next Class on Monday, May 16.
*A couple of days later, Degrassi Source broke the news that both ABC3 and service provider Foxtel were posting Season 2 episode descriptions (all 10 are now available). They also started listing their broadcast schedule for Season 2, with the premiere date set for Monday, May 30.
*Episode stills from Season 2 also started finding their way onto ABC3’s site.
If you’ve been a member of fandom for a lengthy period of time then you know networks eventually find a way to accidentally leak Degrassi stuff, so of course that was the first assumption here. There’s also the fact Family Channel has first-run rights for the series in some capacity…so that should apply worldwide, right?
Thanks to a Degrassi fan (who wanted to stay anonymous) for providing an e-mail from ABCTV:
So, unlike the rest of the world, Australia decided to air all 20 episodes at once. This is pretty wild, and I’m not sure what to tell ya. Netflix will still stream Season 2 worldwide for every country under their deal on Friday, July 22.
We still haven’t heard anything about when Season 2 will be released on Family Channel in Canada (still assume that it will air on Family at some point before the season is released on Netflix, with a likely date being Monday, July 11).
Here is Australia’s broadcast schedule. These episodes will air at 8:30pm Sydney time (some of the correlating times for other time zones can be found here):
Monday, May 30: Ep 201, #SquadGoals
Tuesday, May 31: Ep 202, #TurnItUp
Wednesday, June 1: Ep 203, #CheckYourPrivilege
Thursday, June 2: Ep 204, #BuyMePizza
Friday, June 3: Ep 205, #ThrowbackThursday
Monday, June 6: Ep 206, #ToMyFutureSelf
Tuesday, June 7: Ep 207, #ThatAwkwardMomentWhen
Wednesday, June 8: Ep 208, #RiseAndGrind
Thursday, June 9: Ep 209, #TheseAreMyConfessions
Friday, June 10: Ep 210, #OMFG
Will there be livestreams?
As much as I want to I can’t destroy my sleep schedule for 2 solid weeks, but for you brave souls in the Western hemisphere if you go to Tumblr you can find them they will find you (If you’re a non-Australian fan planning on watching streams, for the love of God please also support the show by watching it on Family Channel/Netflix this summer, where your viewership actually counts toward determining the show’s future.).
What about promos for the next two weeks?
According to Degrassi Source’s Australian sources, they tend not to air episodic promos down under.
Will you review the episodes?
Not now…I’m not going to discuss season 2 episode details or post episode reviews until Family/Netflix roll out the episodes this summer.
Kary's Degrassi Blog 
Anticipation is high! Oh I can’t wait for the episodes to screen here in Aus!
After waiting for forever to be able to view any Next Class episodes (fortunately limited Netflix access in my part of the world) – we “Aussies” will now be the 1st ones to view episodes yet screened in Canada! How exciting!
(Well a little weird, seeing that Canada is the host country… but anyway, we’ll take it!)
Thank you for all the updates and news – keeps people like me here in Aus, just that little bit more connected – so thanks! :)
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You’re welcome! :) It’ll be really interesting to see if this happens next year with seasons 3 and 4…
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I have to say that the entire country of Australia (me included) is partying right now! And laughing at how miserable you guys are! We shouldn’t laugh but we have to because you have no idea the position we have been in for as long as Degrassi has existed basically. Now you know how it feels!
In response to destroying sleep schedules, I remember when they marathoned the last of season 14 and in order to download the episodes I would sleep at a normal time but would leave my laptop on all night and wake up later tow download it, then sleep again, the wake and upload it and sleep again. It wreaked havoc on my sleep schedule for two weeks (with a brief reprieve on the weekend). So I know how you feel lol.
It feels great to not have to do that this time around and make everyone else do that! As an Aussie it feels great that for the first time my/other aussies uploads will be the most sought after! :)
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I would assume it will be up for downloads if you google it shortly after it airs on Australian tv, but with the netflix model I’d say it’s vitally important to buy a month or get a free trial and watch it on Netflix. It needs all the viewership it can get to make sure it keeps going period but also for possibly being announced as renewed for continuous future seasons by Netflix as early as possible, and maybe either get seasons out faster or add more episodes.
It’s nice to be able to watch it in hd, no commercials, and immediately start the next episode. A couple other great shows currently on Netflix are Your lie In April and death note.
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I’ve only heard second-hand stories of how jilted Australian fans have been over the past years so it’s interesting to hear actual Aussies recount their experiences about the waiting game. If there’s any country that deserves to have all Degrassian eyes’ on them, it’s Australia.
That being said, now that worldwide, Canada and Australia are covered, whatever happened with France, who was also excluded from the Netflix package? It’s strange that there has been no news this year, especially considering that the cast has actually been to France for press releases.
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Can someone please link :'(
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