Is 'Maxton Hall' the new 'The Summer I Turned Pretty'?
This summer, TV audiences went wild for The Summer I Turned Pretty. The third and final season of the popular teen drama had everyone asking, "Are you Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah?"
But once Belly (Lola Tung) made her final decision between the two Fisher brothers (Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno), the main question on every fan's minds switched to "What in the world do we watch now?" (Besides the upcoming movie, of course.)
The answer, it seems, is another Prime Video teen drama: the German-language series Maxton Hall — The World Between Us. The first three episodes of Maxton Hall Season 2 dropped Nov. 7. Since then, the show has topped Prime Video's streaming charts, unseating The Summer I Turned Pretty as the streamer's current-trending teen romance. As of writing this, it's the #2 title on Prime Video, behind Tyler Perry's new movie Finding Joy, and the #1 TV series.
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Based on the book series by Mona Kasten, Maxton Hall transports audiences to its titular boarding school, a majestic castle with an exorbitantly wealthy student body. Enter Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten), a scholarship student determined to use Maxton Hall as a stepping stone to Oxford University, even as her classmates spend their days partying and reveling in their families' vast fortunes.
When Ruby uncovers a scandal at Maxton Hall, she finds herself in close contact with James Beaufort (Damian Hardung). He's the ultra-privileged heir of the Beaufort family, yet Ruby soon learns there are hidden depths to him. This being a teen romance, it's not long before the two fall in love, even as those around them try to pull them apart.
Maxton Hall doesn't have the brotherly love triangle shenanigans of The Summer I Turned Pretty. (For more of that, I'd suggest Netflix's My Life with the Walter Boys.) However, there are enough similarities between the two to suggest that Maxton Hall will be filling the void The Summer I Turned Pretty's finale left behind.
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For starters, Ruby and James' enemies-to-lovers arc recalls the more contentious dynamic between Belly and Conrad in The Summer I Turned Pretty's first season. (Minus the childhood pining, that is.) In Season 2, James' struggles with his mental health and grief also mirror Conrad's own internal journey, especially as the pair both suffer an intense familial loss.
However, as James spirals following this loss, he makes a much more Jeremiah-like move. Remember Jeremiah's infamous trip to Cabo, where he cheated on Belly? (Honestly, who could forget, aside from Belly when she decides to get engaged to him anyway? But I digress.) Well, James doesn't even need the distance of a spring break trip to cheat on Ruby, doing so right in front of her in the Season 2 premiere! Since then, he's been taking steps to make it up to her, but the angst is still piping hot.
The angst of it all is enough to keep viewers pouring back into Maxton Hall week after week, yearning to know what's next for Ruby and James. But like any teen drama, Maxton Hall explores its characters' ambitions and challenges beyond their main romance, from Ruby's university dreams and James' grief to the classism of the institution where they met. That's a lot for teen drama fans to sink their teeth into, and it means that while The Summer I Turned Pretty summer is fully over, you can always get into Maxton Hall fall.
Topics Prime Video
Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.
