Young Royals Season Three Leaves Fans On A Cliffhanger Before Final Episode
Young Royals season three leaves fans on a cliffhanger before the final episode.
The hit Swedish show Young Royals details the life of Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) who falls for fellow classmate Simon (Omar Rudberg) at their private boarding school. From sex tape scandals to emotional breakups, Simon and Wilhelm always seem to come back to each other. In the end, will Wilhelm choose the crown or love? Even after watching five of the six episodes in the final season, we still don’t have an answer.
Yup, that’s right — the final season’s release structure is a bit different than usual. The first five episodes premiered on March 11, while the sixth and final episode premieres on March 18. The season covers a lot of heavy and important subjects such as addiction, mental health, coming out, and the every day struggles of growing and learning who you are.
Season three starts with Wilhelm's speech that has had consequences, not only in the court, but also throughout the school, as Hillerska confronts the worst crisis in the school's history. The attention spotlighted on the boarding school causes panic among staff and students, leading to an investigation. Students are put on strict schedules, reduced phone time, and have had their extracurricular activities cancelled. The series is a classic coming-of-age story, but often dramatizes simple elements. Teenage emotions often feel huge when in the grand scheme of things are minute, but Young Royals expresses the gravity in which you experience emotions as a young person.
We also see Sara (Frida Argento) attempt to redeem herself in the eyes of her friends and family. After she betrayed her brother and kept secrets from her friends, she now finds herself isolated and struggling. Young Royals perfectly depicts the enormous weight that teens feel as their emotions and environments change. Sara’s redemption arc is that of many teens who make mistakes and learn from them in order to grow. What feels like the end of the world is just a small hurdle in the grand scheme of life. This series shows forgiveness in a light that often seems missing. While this season could have dove deeper into Sara’s headspace, I still think they did a good job of showing her progress.
As the students are forced together, their conflicts only seem to rise. Wilhelm is still avoiding any contact possible with August (Malte Gårdinger). The pair’s relationship seems to be at a breaking point, when suddenly August drops a bombshell of information about Wilhelm’s deceased brother. This new season dives further into more complex relationships and how to cope with the loss of a close family member, who you may not have known as well as you thought. This element didn’t come into play until the last couple of episodes, but I think will be further explored in the finale to truly understand Wilhelm’s feelings.
In episode five, we get to see an unrestrained version of Wilhelm as he finally opens up to his parents and Simon about his emotions after the death of his brother and never ending public scrutiny. This show does such a great service to depicting mental health struggles, specifically anxiety. It is clear that even before the recent traumatic events, Wilhelm struggles to overcome his anxious thoughts. Edvin Ryding does a phenomenal job of portraying the subtle but constant tension of suffering from anxiety. When he finally lets it all out, he is relieved, but it also opens the door for more arguments and problems within his high profile family.
Though Young Royals is a fictional story about fictional political figures, it serves as a metaphor for those struggling with being open about their sexuality, no matter their public status. By coming out, you open yourself up to a plethora of external opinions that most of the time have nothing to do with you or your own experiences. Young Royals is a story of hope for the LGBTQIA+ community in showing that overcoming public opinion leads to a happier and more fulfilling life. It is better to live openly as yourself than hide the things that truly make you who you are.
You can watch Young Royals on Netflix — and don’t miss the final episode and the behind-the-scenes documentary Young Royals Forever out March 18.
