"Betty," HBO's Newest Teen Drama Series, Is "Euphoria" Meets "Rocket Power"
There's a new teen drama on the scene, and if you're a fan of skateboarding teens, relationship drama, and girls doing cool stuff, you're in for a treat with *Betty," HBO's newest upcoming series.
The 6-episode series is a TV spinoff of Crystal Moselle’s acclaimed 2018 film Skate Kitchen, which starred Jaden Smith alongside the real all-girl skating group who inspired the movie (the teens played fictitious versions of their IRL selves). Betty continues the work of the film, and as the first full trailer shows, Betty brings back Skate Kitchen stars Dede Lovelace, Moonbear, Nina Moran, Ajani Russell, and Rachelle Vinberg. According to the show's official synopsis, "A diverse group of young women navigate their lives through the male-dominated world of skateboarding in New York City."
The movie's backstory is pretty cool — as Teen Vogue wrote in 2018, Crystal Moselle saw two random teens with skateboards (Rachelle Vinberg and Nina Moran) on the subway in New York City. Together, they formed the basis for what would become Skate Kitchen, and now, Betty. “I’d always look at the comments of girl skating videos, and they’d all be saying, ‘Why aren’t they in the kitchen?’” Rachelle told Teen Vogue at the time. “So, in the name, it shows we're allowed to skate.”
The show will be stocked with a wide array of interesting personalities. Dede's character Janay is described by HBO as "strong willed and stubborn in ways that both help and hurt her." Honeybear (Moonbear) is "a quiet storm" whose "flagrant style is a ruse; an armor she wears to hide her emotional struggles." Kirt (played by Nina Moran) is "a lover (to the ladies)" but a "fighter (to the rest of the world) and the funniest person alive." Indigo (played by Ajani) is "a street-savvy hustler trapped in the body of a well-to-do art school drop-out." And finally, Camille (played by Rachelle), is "guarded, perceptive, intelligent and awkward." The character breakdown adds, "She wants to be down with the dudes in the skate park and has fought hard for the small space she’s carved out with them, but she needs to realize that cool points don’t actually add up to the sum of anything, especially in the eyes of the other girls."
In the trailer, we see friendships and crushes blossom; even as fights break out, the friends always have each other's backs, amid gloriously shot New York City streets. This is one show we can't wait to see.
Betty premieres on HBO on May 1 at 11 p.m. Until then, check out the new trailer below:
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Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: The "Skate Kitchen" All-Girl Crew Knows Their Visibility Matters
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
