From Jonathan Peltz of Vice:

High School Never Ends: An Interview with the Creators of ‘Degrassi’
“There is going to be some change to how the narrative of the show unfolds. There will be two chapters of ten episodes each. Each chapter has its own thematic storyline. As we tell each story, there are some stories that compete with each other and then bits and pieces flow through. We actually don’t have a roll out plan from Netflix yet but we are aware that our audience could be binge watching. We’re trying to make an experience that will be satisfying on a weekly basis. But if you watch it at once it’s a very juicy form of creative storytelling.” Continue reading.

From Cassandra Szklarski of The Canadian Press

School’s out for ‘Degrassi’ on MTV Canada series finale
As fans of Canada’s longest running teen saga know, there’s really no such thing as a “Degrassi” series finale.

The beloved Toronto-set franchise has wrapped various incarnations over the past three-and-a-half decades, only to return afresh for a new generation of youth. Continue reading.

From Casey Mink of Hollywoodlife:

‘Degrassi: The Next Generation’ Series Finale: Where Is The Original Cast Today?
‘Degrassi: The Next Generation,’ is wrapping up for good and the series finale is guaranteed to bring some tears. To open up the floodgates, let’s take a look back at the season 1 cast, and see who all those kids grew up to be! Continue reading.

From Patrick Ryan of USA Today:

‘Degrassi’ signs off — but it’s not goodbye
“We want to make Degrassi the unique, authentic voice of Gen Z,” Stohn says. “You might think they’d be retreating from this very fearful world we live in, but on the contrary, they want to become nurses, work with the United Nations and make this world a better place.” Continue reading.

From a media release:

After 14 incredible seasons with Bell Media, the iconic original Canadian series DEGRASSI  ends its run on MTV with the one-hour series finale onFriday, July 31 at 9 p.m. ET, followed by the two-hour original movie DEGRASSI: DON’T LOOK BACK on Sunday, Aug. 2 at 9 p.m. ET. In the epic series finale on MTV, the students of DEGRASSI head to prom before they take the stage to graduate. Then, in DEGRASSI: DON’T LOOK BACK, everyone thinks it will be the best summer ever, but the city has something else in store for them.

DEGRASSI has made an incredible impact in Canadian television, bringing its weekly audience along as it tackles the tough challenges of high school. Since Bell Media’s partnership with Epitome Pictures began in 2001, DEGRASSI has won 19 Gemini Awards, 10 Canadian Screen Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, a Peabody Award, and has received four Emmy^® Award nominations. Season 14 is currently streaming on MTV.ca, while Season 12 and 13 are streaming on CraveTV.

In the series finale on MTV, “Finally” Part 1 and 2 (Friday, July 31 at 9 p.m. ET), while Alli (Melinda Shankar) may have her future set in stone, Clare (Aislinn Paul) starts to see that maybe, not having everything figured out is a good thing after all. Meanwhile, with all the excitement surrounding graduation, Dallas (Demetrius Joyette) and Drew (Luke Bilyk) must come together to ensure prom is a night to remember for years to come.

In the original Canadian movie DEGRASSI: DON’T LOOK BACK (Sunday, Aug. 2 at 9 p.m. ET), Maya (Olivia Scriven) has high hopes of spending the summer lifeguarding at the beach with Zig (Ricardo Hoyos), but her hopes are crushed when she fails her CPR class. Determined not to let her summer be a total bust, she sets her sights on a nanny job for a prestigious music producer, but is foiled by Gloria (Nicole Samantha Huff) who swoops in and gets the job. Frankie’s (Sara Waisglass) pumped for her summer job as a city hall intern but finds it’s an uphill battle with the other older interns. Meanwhile, Zoe is determined to coast through summer school with Tristan (Lyle Lettau) by riding the coat-tails of Hunter and Grace. And while all the kids have challenges, what really overshadows the summer is that sexy and infuriating Gloria goes missing. This cloud hovers over everyone’s summer as they are all, in one way or another, touched by her disappearance.

DEGRASSI cast regulars include Amanda Arcuri as Lola Pacini; Luke Bilyk as Drew Torres; Munro Chambers as Eli Goldsworthy; Reiya Downs as Shay Powers; Sarah Fisher as Becky; Ana Golja as Zoë Rivas; Nikki Gould as Grace Cardinal; Ricardo Hoyos as Zig Novak; Demetrius Joyette as Mike Dallas; Ehren Kassam as Jonah Haak; Andre Kim as Winston Chu; Lyle Lettau as Tristan Milligan; Spencer Macpherson as Hunter Hollingsworth; Eric Osborne as Miles Hollingsworth III; Aislinn Paul as Clare; Cristine Prosperi as Imogen; AJ Saudin as Connor; Olivia Scriven as Maya Matlin; Melinda Shankar as Alli; Jessica Tyler as Jenna; Olivia Scriven as Maya; Sara Waisglass as Frankie Hollingsworth; and Richard Walters as Deon “Tiny” Bell. Classic cast member Stefan Brogren returns as Principal Archie “Snake” Simpson.

From Bethonie Butler of The Washington Post:

Online presence key to Degrassi’s evolution and survival
To date, Degrassi has produced more than 100 original scripted webisodes, according to the franchise’s recently relaunched website, which chronicles its 35-year history. For Stohn and Schuyler, a home on Netflix brings that history full circle.

“For the past few years we’ve realized the teen audience is, more and more, leaving linear television and moving online, and it was our dream because we wanted to reach the teen audience and we wanted to reach them in the digital space,” Stohn said. Continue reading.

From Melissa Hank of O.Canada.com:

Degrassi creator talks show ending, surprise cameos in Next Class
“Even before we knew what was going to happen with Degrassi, creatively we had already come to the conclusion that because we were going to graduate such a big chunk of kids, we needed to take a hard look at where we were going to go from here,” Schuyler says.

“We realized that when the show started as Degrassi: The Next Generation 14 years ago, a lot of the current audience wasn’t even born, which led us to a lot of research on Generation Z. We had a different audience.” Continue reading.