Summary
Young Royals ends on a high, serving the story well and providing the fans with what they want.
Young Royals is an international teen drama that’s stayed under the radar in mainstream conversations despite its clear popularity. Season 3, which will be the final outing, provides a continuation of the burning gay love story between Wilhelm and Simon, mixed with politics as the Swedish Royal Family hangs over their heads.
Season 3 manages to keep pace with the story after the dramatic Season 2 ending. It remains a story that has all the elements of a young teen drama but keeps the serious themes intact. It never gets too silly, and it works wonders.
A Great Send-Off
Cast your minds back to the end of Season 2, with Wilhelm revealing publicly that he is in the leaked sex tape of him and Simon. Now cast your minds back to the end of Season 1, with Wilhelm furious at the leak, and the consequences it will have on the Swedish monarchy. There’s been a seismic shift since the Season 1 premiere, and so far, the young teenagers have taken control of their fate. Wilhelm and Simon, for the most part, have stood firm, and now their relationship is a strong indication of moving towards progressive change at the prestigious boarding school.
However, Season 3 presents the reality of Wilhelm and Simon’s position, with the Crown applying their traditional methodology and imposing an artificial path for both of them. I am not aware of Swedish politics, or the monarchy, but as a resident of the United Kingdom, I have witnessed multiple times where our monarchy has provided a controlled, clean narrative. When the narrative goes off course, there’s an adjustment. Young Royals, for all its glitzy teen tropes, manages to convey this problem well, giving depth that you would not normally expect to see in a series similar to this.
Young Royals Season 3 is not all serious. It does provide moments to appease the fanbase with outrageous parties and exciting subplots. Viewers who are supporters of the Wilhelm and Simon relationship will be enamored with plenty of romantic scenes between them. The cast behind the characters, Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg, have incredible chemistry: without these two leads, the story would not be where it is today.
And that’s because, despite their differences, Wilhelm and Simon have a loving understanding that most relationships desire. Perhaps it’s because Wilhelm has had to grow up quicker due to the pressure of being in line to the throne, or that Simon had a good mother who raised him well, but the maturity on display to discuss their feelings and navigate real-world problems is comforting. Ryding and Rudberg get it. There are always small moments between the characters which feel far more significant than the key events.
There are important questions that remain in Season 3: Do Wilhelm and Simon stay together? Does The Crown impose on their freedoms? Will August show redemption and find ground with Sara? If these storylines grabbed you by the end of Season 2, then you’ll surely enjoy the conclusive final season.
Is Young Royals One of The Best Teen Dramas?
Netflix have become the market leader in teen dramas in the last few years. However, Young Royals is a unique outlier. It’s not easily labeled as one of the best teen dramas, but it certainly has a pledge to being a hidden gem in a saturated genre. Its appeal as an LGBTQ series is not because of a gay relationship — it’s the progressive challenging of age-old institutions that make it a compelling TV show. It’s less surface-level than the seemingly generic Love, Victor.
Very rarely do TV shows end at a good place, but I am happy that Young Royals ends on Season 3. It needn’t require an extension to the story. The development of Wilhelm and Simon, and their counterparts reach their peak, delivering an enticing final six episodes.
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