Netflix is bringing you back to the mat for a new season of “Cheer.”
Much has changed about the world and the championship-winning cheerleading team at Navarro College since the first season of the adrenaline-pumping docuseries debuted on the streamer in January 2020.
Emmys were won, trophies were nabbed and cheer-lebrities were made, as the world fell in love with a group of elite young athletes and became obsessed with the insular and billion-dollar industry of competitive cheerleading. But then the COVID pandemic hit, putting an unceremonious end to the season, and the show’s breakout star, Jerry Harris, was arrested for sex crimes against minors.
“I can’t even, like, process it right now,” coach Monica Aldama says through the tears in the trailer, as a clip of the FBI conducting a raid on Harris’ home flashes across the screen.
The nine-episode new season of “Cheer,” which hits the streaming service on Wednesday, Jan. 12, will deal directly with the aftermath of Harris’ arrest and how the scandal ricochets throughout the squad, which includes returning members Lexi Brumback, La’Darius Marshall, Gabi Butler and Morgan Simianer. An episode of the new season will also reportedly be centered around the twin brothers who accused Harris of sexually abusing them and demanding nude photographs from them when they were just 13 years old, according to Variety.
In a statement, director and executive producer Greg Whiteley said, “This season covers events as they unfolded, beginning in January 2020 through April 2021, following Navarro College and their rival Trinity Valley Community College on their journeys to the national championship. The new episodes also tackle extremely difficult moments, including the impact of COVID-19 and criminal charges against one of Navarro’s former team members. It was inspiring, heartbreaking, sometimes frustrating, and ultimately moving to be a part of their lives.”
“Flying home from our last day of shooting in Daytona, I thought, ‘I cannot believe we saw what we just saw, we experienced what we just experienced,’” he continued. “If we do our job right, we’re able to take the audience on that same ride.”
The new season will also track Navarro’s rival squad, Trinity Valley Community College, boasting a “charismatic coach and breakout stars whose struggles, triumphs and stories extend far beyond the mat,” as the two teams face off at the 2021 championship in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The stakes “have never been higher” as “the buzz around their newfound stardom threatens to alter the dynamic of Navarro Cheer,” the logline for the new season reads, teasing that “the team finds no amount of press frenzy could compare to the challenges they must face.”
Watch the trailer below.