This interview contains spoilers from Season 2 of “Young Royals,” now streaming on Netflix.Well, that is certainly one way to get the attention of the entire country of Sweden.
In the Season 2 finale of Netflix’s global sensation “Young Royals,” Sweden’s teenaged Crown Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) used a nationally broadcasted speech at his school Hillerska’s 120th anniversary jubilee to confess to his classmates, his family and his country that he’d lied about not being in the illegally distributed sex tape with Simon (Omar Rudberg). The very public moment of candor and bravery came after a season of regret over being forced to deny being in the video by his mother, the Queen Kristina of Sweden (Pernilla August) — a decision that drove a wedge between Wilhelm and Simon.For this series-defining moment, “Young Royals” co-creator and head writer Lisa Ambjörn told Variety it was important Wilhelm didn’t use his address as a coming-out speech or to publicly declare his love for Simon, even though they did officially reunite just moments before he went on stage.
“For Wilhelm, the realization throughout the season has been that [he and Simon’s relationship] was never the problem” she says. “The problem was that he was forced to lie. That lie has now caused this havoc among their friends, not to mention what that has done to him internally. He has to break it. And when he breaks it, he’s not sure he can put it back together. But it had to fall apart.”
As the assembled students start to livestream his speech from their unexpected front-row seats to history, Wilhelm turns to Simon for a silent but sweet smile of momentary reassurance that will surely have fans swooning.
“We shot loads of takes of that scene,” Ambjörn says. “He turns around, he looks at Simon and they share this little smile and you kind of feel like they have each other, and it’s going to be great. And then Wilhelm turns back, takes in the room, and he’s kind of like, ‘Oh shit.’”
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