Olympia Valance, Annabel Wolfe, and Josh MacQueen have joined the cast of Netflix teen drama Surviving Summer, as production on season two gets underway along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road.
Created by Joanna Werner and Josh Mapleston, the second season picks up the titular Summer Torres (Sky Katz), who returns to Shorehaven and stuns her Aussie mates with her newfound surf skills.
As she pursues her surfing dream, she contends with rollercoaster romances, a mysterious new coach, and a rival surfer determined to take her down.
Katz will once again be joined by Kai Lewins as Ari Gibson, João Gabriel Marinho as Marlon Sousa, Savannah La Rain as Bodhi Mercer, and reigning Open Women’s Queensland Surf Champion Lilliana ‘Lil’ Bowrey as Poppy Tetanui.
Sian Davies is also back to direct the new episodes, along with Christiaan Van Vuuren.
Of the writers for this season, Mapleston penned episodes one, three, six, and eight, working with Keir Wilkins (episode two), Huna Amweero (episode four), Alix Beane (episode five), and Libby Butler (episode seven).
Surviving Summer is produced by Werner Film Productions for ZDF Studios and Netflix.
It comes after the first season, released in June last year, reached the top 10 shows in more than 42 countries around the world on Netflix, including Australia, the US, Canada, UK, Brazil, and countries across Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Fans also engaged across social platforms, with #survivingsummer racking up over 52.4M on TikTok.
Werner said the cast and crew couldn’t be more excited to commence shooting on the second season.
“Our fabulous cast have just finished their intensive surf training camp and are ready to go, along with some exciting new cast members,” she said.
“We have a brilliant crew assembled on the surf coast and the sun is shining here in Anglesea – here’s to a great shoot.”
Netflix ANZ director of content Que Minh Luu said it was “so rewarding” to see audiences around the world embrace Australian storytelling.
“We’re stoked to be back in the waters with Werner Productions to ride the next wave of this brilliant Aussie teen series,” she said.
Surviving Summer received production support from VicScreen.