High school reunions are a weird time for everyone involved. That’s possibly why Emily Browning, Megan Smart and Caitlin Stasey, the leads of Prime Video’s new Aussie original series Class of ’07, didn’t go to their school reunions and don’t plan to, even after working on a show like this one.
Class of ’07 taps into the unique Australian culture around private all-girls schools and adds an apocalyptic twist after a tidal wave strands a group of old classmates at their 10-year reunion.
Minus the apocalypse, there are a lot of elements in Class of ’07 that Australians are bound to find relatable. Smart told Lifehacker Australia she was drawn to the way Class of ’07 addresses female friendships:
“I think a lot of the discourse on female friendship, I find something not quite real about it, but for this when I read the script there was a crassness and a vulgarity to it that made me go, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s how I talk to my friends’. It’s uglier than this kind of glossy version and that was really relatable,” she said.
For Browning, Class of ’07 marks her first attempt at comedy and she drew inspiration from Aussie comics Lano and Woodley to build her character, Zoe.
“They are so goofy and ridiculous,” she said, “…I definitely got some Zoe inspiration from them.”
Browning added that Zoe, Amelia (played by Smart) and Saskia (played by Stasey), make up the “platonic love triangle” of the show.
“I think Amelia is kind of [Zoe’s] soulmate in a way. They were besties in high school but she kind of gravitated more towards Saskia just because she’s cool and powerful. And Saskia for some reason likes Zoe, even though Zoe is such a little pain in the arse,” she said.
“I think [Saskia] needed her because Zoe just says it like it is,” Stasey added. “I’m sure Saskia really enjoyed that because everyone else was afraid of her and I don’t think Zoe is.”
“Saskia’s journey in the show is about power and seizing power and ceding it. She’s a major control freak and has a very absolute definition of what is good and wrong or right. So she commits to it pretty fully, which makes her a very natural leader, but also makes her a stern and kind of frightening presence,” she continued.
Rounding out the show’s love triangle is Amelia, who Smart says left high school midway through for unknown reasons and ghosted all her friends, particularly Zoe.
“[Amelia] wants to go to the reunion to try and rekindle and hopefully mend their relationship – until Zoe traps them at the apocalypse. The show is about them coming together,” Smart said.
Class of ’07 is built upon a talented all-female cast that includes Steph Tisdell, Emma Horn, Claire Lovering, Sana’a Shaik, Bernie Van Tiel, Chi Nguyen, Sarah Krndija, Rose Flanagan, and Debra Lawrance.
According to the actors, the group bonded effortlessly after isolating together during the Omicron wave in Sydney.
“It felt very much like school camp,” Stasey said.
Such a large and diverse cast also allowed Class of ’07 to depict an array of women on screen.
“I love the fact that all the characters are really messy and flawed in their own way. Everyone is kind of a hero and everyone is kind of a villain,” Browning said. “I like that it shows the range of complexity of women.”
“And it’s real. It’s not sugarcoating femininity,” Stasey agreed.
While it’s still early days, all three actors said they would be keen to return for another season of Class of ’07. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait until the 20-year reunion for that.
Class of ’07 begins streaming on Prime Video on March 17.
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