From 2004 to 2006, Rebelde ruled the lives of tweens and teens. It was a reboot of the Argentine telenovela Rebelde Way. The Mexican telenovela was a global sensation that also created a band, RBD, that was just as, if not more, popular as the series. The show had a massive 440 episodes. Nearly 20 years later, Netflix plans to bring a new group of teen rebels to your screen with a Rebelde reboot.
The Rebelde reboot hopes to capitalize on the nostalgia that runs so rampant in the film and television industry, and with movie and television fans. However, Netflix’s Rebelde also wants to appeal to Gen Z and create a new generation of fans. The new series will launch on Netflix sooner than you think, so let’s look at everything we know so far about it.
Netflix’s Rebelde Premieres In January 2022
In September 2021, during the Netflix fan event, Tudum, Netflix released the first Rebelde teaser. It showed some of the cast singing RBD’s “Rebelde.” It ended the teaser by saying Netflix’s Rebelde reboot would arrive in 2022. In October, Netflix confirmed the release date.
Netflix released an official music video that showed the new cast singing and dancing to a slightly remixed version of the original song. The post also revealed that Rebelde premieres on January 5, 2022. This release date makes sense, because Netflix has had some really successful shows premiere at the start of the year, such as Love is Blind and The Circle.
Production began in March 2021 and probably wrapped a few months after. This most likely means that the cast and crew have had plenty of time for reshoots and editing to produce a version that appeals to new and old Rebelde fans.
Netlifx’s Rebelde Is Not A Reboot, It’s A Continuation
Despite Netflix's Rebelde being marketed as a reboot, it’s not one. Instead, it’s a continuation series. The show isn’t trying to make copies of Mia (Anahí), Roberta (Dulce Maria), Lupita (Maite Perroni), Miguel (Alfonso “Poncho” Herrera), Diego (Christopher von Uckermann), and Giovanni (Christian Chavez).
The goal is to create unique new characters with their own personalities and struggles, while maintaining the spirit that made the Mexican series so popular. The new Rebelde makes it clear that this is designed to showcase a new generation of Elite Way School students and that the original characters exist in this universe.
However, it’s hard to deny that Jana (Azul Guaita) and Esteban (Sergio Mayer Mori) are styled to look a lot like Mia and Miguel, especially in the earlier episodes of Rebelde.
To me, this means that the show at least wants to draw upon some comparisons to the original show, especially to draw in millennials who may be looking for other forms of familiarity between this series and the original.
Netflix’s Rebelde Has a Diverse Cast, Representing Different Spanish Speaking Or Latin American Countries
Rebelde consists of eight main teen characters. These characters are Jana Cohen (Azul Guaita), Esteban (Sergio Mayer Mori), M.J. (Andrea Chaparro), Dixon (Jeronimo Cantillo), Luka Colucci (Franco Masini), Andi (Lizeth Selene), Sebastian Langarica-Funtanet (Alejandro Puente), and Emilia (Giovanna Grigio). Though the majority of the cast are from Mexico, a few members of the main cast are from other Spanish speaking or Latin American countries, such as Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina.
We don’t know what countries the characters will be from in the show, but Netflix may use the series to represent a wide range of teens in this Latinx TV show, by making some of the characters from other Latin American or Spanish speaking countries outside of Mexico. This would make the show more inclusive and may connect with a more global Gen Z audience.
Netflix’s Rebelde Features Some Of The Original Cast
With Rebelde’s official first teaser, came news that Estefania Villarreal would be reprising her role as Celina Ferrer. In the original show, she was a close friend of Mia (Anahí) and Vico (Angelique Boyer) and had a lot of insecurities that she had to overcome, but Celina is now the principal of Elite Way School. Villarreal is the only confirmed returning cast member. However, I believe that other actors and characters from the original Rebelde may make an appearance.
Many of the new characters’ last names aren’t revealed. This could be a way to hide that some of the main new characters will have familial connections to the previous ones, either the main group or some of the side characters. Also, one of the characters who has been given a last name shares it with one of the main original Rebelde protagonists.
Luka Colucci shares his last name with Mia, which likely means that they are related. This connection is a great way to open the door for Anahí to make an appearance in Season 1 or potential future seasons. It’s also a way to seamlessly give us an update on her and the other former Elite Way School alumni.
Perroni has appeared in a few Netflix series, including Dark Desire and El Juego de Las Llaves, and Herrera has appeared in Netflix’s Sense8 and will appear in the upcoming season of Ozark. Because Herrera and Perroni have a relationship with Netflix, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that one or both of them may reprise their roles as Lupita and Miguel for Netflix’s Rebelde. However, Herrera seems happy to let that chapter of his life go, so I highly doubt he’ll return in the near future.
Fashion Will Be An Important Element Of Netflix’s Rebelde
If you grew up watching Rebelde, chances are you remember the iconic Elite Way School uniform and how each character styled it to match their personalities. You also may remember Giovanni’s ever-changing hair color and how the fashion evolved with each character. Fashion was a major part of the original, so it makes sense that it will play a major role again.
Elle Magazine Mexico spoke to the costume designer for the new Rebelde series, Nayeli de Alba. She spoke about using Instagram, Tik-Tok, and other popular Gen Z outlets to inspire the fashion. She also said she let the cast and their characters help dictate their fashion journey throughout the season.
Something that makes the fashion here a bit different from the original series is an emphasis on using Mexican designers and brands in the TV show. According to Harper’s Bazaar, the original relied heavily on USA fashion and brands to develop the style of the TV show’s characters. Nayeli de Alba made sure that Netflix’s Rebelde fashion roots were very much planted in Mexico.
Music Plays A Major Role In The Netflix Rebelde Series
RBD became a hugely successful Latin pop group during and after Rebelde’s run, until their split in 2009. We don’t know yet how much music will be in the new show, nor do we know whether it’ll be a lot of remakes of the original RBD songs, new songs, or some combination. I would guess some combination of both.
Netflix has had success before with musical series. Julie and the Phantoms was a critical success and many fans have been dying to know when Julie and the Phantoms Season 2 will premiere. Netflix also released an album alongside the premiere and the album reached number four on the US Billboard Soundtrack charts and number one on the US and Australian iTunes charts.
The success of the Julie and the Phantoms album will likely inspire Netflix to do the same with Rebelde. We expect an album to drop alongside the series on January 5, 2022.
Rebelde is one of the Netflix TV shows that we can’t wait to see in 2022. It’ll be interesting to see how Netflix cashes in on the nostalgia with this reboot/continuation, while making it relevant to Gen Z.
