Young Royals S2: The mind-blowing new season

Young Royals S2 has been available to stream globally for two weeks now. The online presence surrounding the season has been intense and loud, and folks are making it known to anyone who will listen: this story must get a season 3 renewal. The mind-blowing second season left absolutely nothing to the imagination and the fandom’s collective gasps were heard near and far as folks watched the very unexpected turn of events play out on their screens before them. 

In our extensive coverage of the release of season 2, we published a reaction review for each individual episode, however, if you’re more interested in a larger scale full season write-up, we’ve got you covered here.

Young Royals S2 is the very antithesis of predictable. When we pressed play on episode 1, all of our expectations and preconceived notions of what we thought we’d see unfold in this season expediently flew out the window. Nothing could have prepared us for the turn of events that tortured our souls as each episode ticked by.

Our individual episode reaction reviews clearly revealed that we were going through it as we watched Young Royals S2, and now that we’ve had time to let it all marinate a little, we’re so happy we did. Apparently, we like pain a lot around here, but more than that, Young Royals S2 is an exploration of love, betrayal, and the human condition that is so often lacking from media targeted at this demographic. 

Season 2 picks up at the end of the Christmas holiday period which marked the end of season 1. Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) is making preparations to return to Hillerska, except this time the kid is carrying with him the fury of a thousand suns in the most vengeful way possible. Simon (Omar Rudberg) is also heading back to school, except he is trying to figure out how to put some distance between himself and the Prince on account of the massive betrayal enacted by Wilhelm at the end of season 1. Any fool can see that they’re both still in love with each other, but season 2 marks the beginning of the undoing of Simon and Wilhelm. 

While their journey is clearly set against a backdrop of elite, classist privilege that paints a colorful canvas marked by betrayal and irreconcilable differences,  at the very heart, this story is an exploration of love, self-worth, and one’s battle for validation: all things which the human condition seeks and requires to thrive in the harsh realities of our modernist world. 

Doe-eyed Wilhelm is desperately in love with Simon, but the Prince has many lessons to learn before any kind of relationship is even possible between the two. He needs to learn how to respect the boundaries that Simon sets for him, he needs to learn that the power he has as a monarch shouldn’t mean that he can act without consequence. 

Conversely, Simon also has his own journey to endure before he is able to open himself up to the world that Wilhelm is offering. Simon spends the better part of season 2 staunchly holding on to what he thinks is his self-respect. Simon wants to be Willhelm’s equal – not just the Crown Prince’s boyfriend. As long as Wilhelm continues to make decisions for Simon without consulting him, as long as Wilhelm isn’t being completely honest with Simon about the realities of their situation (and yes, it is their situation), that equality within their relationship will never be achieved.

Wilhelm thinks Simon isn’t trying hard enough to understand the complexities of the fact that he is a monarch, and Simon thinks Wilhelm isn’t trying hard enough to see him as the person he is, for all he is worth. And both of them are correct in their assumptions here. And while situations like this have the ability to create extremely toxic situations that inevitably end up destroying people, the love that these two young men share does the opposite. They persevere through the painful lessons and they each grow, thereby enabling their relationship to move into a place that is transparent, healthy, and most importantly, a place where they’re ready for each other. 

Young Royals S2 sees the introduction of a new character that serves as a tool for moving these growth points between the two leads along. Marcus (Tommy Wattring) is brought into the fold to serve as a distraction for Simon. Simon’s friends want to protect him from the Crown and all that comes with it, and encourage Simon to give things a go with Marcus instead. 

But Marcus isn’t a perfect angel and exhibits enough toxic behavior that red flags and warning sirens sounded loudly for us. Unfortunately, Simon is so broken in those moments that he doesn’t see them for himself. However, Marcus’ character does his job: he makes Simon realize that he is just too in love with Wilhelm to walk away, and the boy is forced to work out the issues within himself. 

While Wilhelm and Simon are enduring all this emotional turmoil, the world around them seems utterly set on bringing them down. August (Malte Gårdinger) is continuing his tirade intended on destroying Wilhelm and his position as Crown Prince, and this time he is bringing Sara (Frida Argento) – Simon’s own sister – along as his accomplice. Just when Wilhelm and Simon think they’re going to finally be able to move forward and put the situation that August bestowed upon them with the release of the sex video behind them, the kid takes his tyranny to a whole new level of bad. 

It’s a whole lot of ugh. 

Something that stood out in the first season remains a continued breath of fresh air in the second season. With the exception of the monarchy, no one seems to take issue with the fact that Wilhelm and Simon are both boys. There is no homophobia circulating the halls of Hillerska. Not among the staff, and certainly not among the student body. In this season, those of noble birth seem to understand that the institution that they were born into is antiquated and they are making an active choice not to let it become their norm as well. This is why representation matters so much. Only when folks see this kind of love being completely and totally normalized can we tackle the discrimination and hard battles that still need to be fought around the world. 

The power of storytelling is a powerful educational tool. The more representation that normalizes same-sex love, the more real-life change is possible around the globe.

Both Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg are phenomenal in this new season. It’s way too easy to forget that Young Royals is supposed to be a teen drama because everything about this show feels all too adult and all too real. How is it that two young people are so expertly able to convey extremely complex human emotions as they do? Regardless of age, regardless of gender, one is able to find themselves in the characters of Wilhelm and Simon, and this is entirely because of Ryding and Rudberg themselves. 

They’ll bring you to tears, they’ll make you laugh, they’ll pull at your heartstrings, and they’ll make you question all of your life choices. This season wouldn’t be what it is, and this incredible show wouldn’t be what it is, without these two humans. 

We showed up for the queer content, but we’re sticking around for Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg. 

If you’re interested in checking out our extensive coverage of the release of Young Royals S2, click here. 

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Young Royals is available to stream on Netflix globally now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!