Young Royals’ final season begins production as Edvin Ryding teases first episode will ‘wow’ fans

Omar Rudberg as Simon (L) and Edvin Ryding as Willhelm in Young Royals, which will conclude with season three. (Johan Paulin)

It’s a bitter-sweet time for fans of Young Royals after Netflix confirmed that filming is underway for season three, which will be the final outing for the hit queer teen drama.

Netflix shared images of stars including Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg on set on Thursday (13 April), whipping up a frenzy as fans prepare for Prince Wilhelm (Ryding) and Simon’s (Rudberg) epic love story to come to an end.

“Third time’s the charm. Young Royals season three is now in production,” the streaming service declared on Twitter alongside the pictures, which show the cast holding up three fingers in honour of the show’s third run.

Minutes later, Netflix shared a second tweet containing behind-the-scenes footage of the cast reuniting to hold a script read-through, with Ryding, 20, teasing that “the first episode is going to be ‘wow’.”

Young Royals was renewed for its third season in December, with Netflix confirming that it would bring the show’s thrilling plot to a close.

The Swedish-language drama debuted inJuly 2021, and charts Prince Wilhelm of Sweden’s journey after he joins an elite boarding school and navigates a budding romance with fellow student Simon Eriksson – and the ensuing scandal it generates.

You may like to watch

A second season dropped in November 2022, but the release date for season three remains unknown despite production now being under way.

Young Royals has managed to avoid the fate of other LGBTQ+ young adult shows by ending on its own terms without cancellation, but whether that means Wilhelm and Simon will get a happy-ever-after remains to be seen.

One thing’s for sure though: the series has provided plenty of vital LGBTQ+ representation on screen over the past two years, with Rudberg sharing this own favourite moments with PinkNews last year.

“The first kiss is iconic,” he told us ahead of the release of season two. “I love the first kiss, it is so intimate and so beautiful.”

The 24-year-old singer and actor added that he is also a fan of “the fish scene where Wilhelm is in Simon’s room for the first time”.

A screenshot of Edvin Ryding as Wilhelm and Omar Rudberg as Simon from Netflix show Young Royals. (Netflix)
Edvin Ryding as Prince Wilhelm (left) and Omar Rudberg as Simon in Young Royals. (Netflix)

“Then they start hugging,” Rudberg noted. “That whole moment is so beautiful.”

Meanwhile, Ryding told PinkNews why leaving Wilhelm’s sexuality unlabelled is important for a show aimed at teens and young adults.

“There are a lot of different labels right now, but the thing about Wilhelm is he doesn’t have a label”, the star said.

“Although he’s unsure of what he wants, he knows he enjoys spending time with Simon and it doesn’t matter that he is a boy, that’s not the thing itself. For him it’s just fine being unlabelled. [It’s] important to show the audience that you can be unlabelled.”

Young Royals seasons one and two are available to watch on Netflix now.