Netflix Renews High School Drama for Season 6
Netflix subscribers will be returning to the elite Las Encinas secondary school. The streamer has officially renewed its hit Spanish-language teen crime series Elite for Season 6, it confirmed early Thursday morning, Deadline reported. The season order came as fans await the arrival of Season 5, which is not set to premiere until sometime in 2022.
Created and written by Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona, Elite follows students at Las Encinas, a private school where the children of rich Spanish families go. The students' cushy lives are changed when three working-class children have to attend Las Encinas after their own school is destroyed in an earthquake. The tensions and events that follow ultimately lead to a murder, and it is not clear who committed it.
Originally premiering back in 2018, Elite has been a massive hit for Netflix, earning critical praise for its concept and themes, including those regarding gender and sexuality. The series won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Scripted Television Series (Spanish-Language) in 2019 and was nominated for the same category in 2020 and 2021. The series currently has a 74% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 97% approval rating from critics. According to Variety, the show is poised to be Netflix's top IP out of Spain following the end of Money Heist in December.
The series has performed so well that it even sparked the short-form spinoff Elite Short Stories, which premiered in June 2021 and featured "mini-series" focusing on four separate groups of students at Las Encinas during the summer between Elite Season 3 and Elite Season 4. In announcing the Elite Season 6 renewal news, Netflix also confirmed that the short-form spinoff will be three new holiday-themed installments. The first installment, Elite: Short Stories: Phillipe, Caye, & Felipe, is scheduled to premiere on Wednesday, Dec. 15. It will be followed by Elite: Short Stories: Samuel & Omar on Monday, Dec. 20 and Elite: Short Stories: Patrick on Thursday, Dec. 23.
Elite stars Itzan Escamilla as Samuel, Mina El Hammani as Nadia, Omar Ayuso as Omar, Claudia Salas as Rebe, Georgina Amorós as Caye, Carla Díaz as Ari, Martina Cariddi as Mencía, Manu Ríos as Patrick, Pol Granch as Phillipe, and Diego Martín as Benjamín. When the show returns for its fifth season, two actors — Miguel Bernardeau and Arón Piper — will be absent, as their onscreen counterparts of Guzmán and Ander departed at the end of Season 4 to embark on new adventures. Netflix has not yet confirmed a premiere date for Elite Season 5 outside of the tentative 2022 timeframe. Stay tuned to PopCulture.com for the latest streaming updates!