User:Eddiebananabonkers

What Is a Youth is an American coming-of-age teen drama television series created, directed and written by Sofia Coppola for HBO. Produced by Banana Bonkers Entertainment, the first season premiered on March 25, 2022, and concluded on November 11, 2022, on HBO. The first part of the second season premiered on April 7, 2023, and concluded on May 19, 2023. The second part of the second season premiered on October 6, 2023, and concluded on December 8, 2023. The third season premiered on March 22, 2024.

Set in the small mountain town of Lages in southern Brazil, the series centers on the newfound experiences and discoveries of teenage boy Eddie (Noah Jupe), whose adolescence bloomed late as he embarks on his senior year in high school while dealing with issues of his own. The rotating ensemble cast includes Jupe, Olivia Rodrigo, Charlie Heaton, Natalia Dyer, Xolo Maridueña, Lachlan Watson, Mason Gooding, Wyatt Oleff, Gabriella Pizzolo, Reneé Rapp, Ian Harding, Peyton Kennedy, Bailee Madison, Zackary Arthur, Annabeth Gish, Joshua Bassett, Kizzy Edgell, Sophia Lillis, Mason Thames, Barbie Ferreira, Xochitl Gomez, Liana Liberato, Malia Pyles, Margaret Qualley, Maia Reficco, David Arquette, Courteney Cox and Jessica Lange. Wolfhard, Heaton, Dyer, Maridueña, Oleff, Arquette, Cox and Lange are the only stars to feature in all three seasons as series regulars.

What Is a Youth has been praised for its sensible representation of bulimia and the inclusion of a non-binary protagonist. Finn Wolfhard's performance and dedication to the role of Eddie, having experienced multiple intense body changes for the role, has been acclaimed.

Overview
What Is a Youth is set in the Southern-Brazilian mountain town of Lages, Santa Catarina, centering around the newfound experiences of teenage boy Eddie Fiuza Vedana (deadname Eduardo), whose adolescence blooms late.

The first season begins in February 2022. As the COVID-19 pandemic comes to a close, Eduardo, dealing with a pandemic weight-gain, is forced to leave his cocoon as classroom lessons return, embarking on his senior year of high school while setting important friendships in stone along the way as he battles social phobia, unbeknownstly set to experience the most dramatic year of his life at that point.

The first part of the second season begins shortly after in January 2023. As he mourns the end of his adolescence, Eduardo deals with the aggravation of his body dysmorphia and gender questioning, several of his high-school friends leaving town and a newfound lack of sense at the future as he cloisters himself in his own lonely world, before a dramatic trip to a Lana Del Rey concert in Rio de Janeiro shifts his path. The second part of the season begins in August 2023. After a roughly two-month time skip and now renaming himself Eddie, he is now openly non-binary and incredibly skinnier, revealed to be suffering from bulimia, as he deals with newfound family issues, a traumatizing night with everlasting impact, and wildly ventures through the chaotic waves of love for the first time.

The third season begins immediately after in January 2024. As he deals with grief at the aftermath of Bono's passing and begins to pre-mourn an imminent end with Devon, Eddie is surprised by an unstoppable wave of twists and turns in his life as he enrolls in university and undesirably reunites with familiar faces from the past while a phletora of new figures enter his life.

Season 3 (2024)
Original series regulars Olivia Rodrigo, Lachlan Watson and Reneé Rapp will return as Ana Luiza Branco Letti, Raí Macedo and Iasmin Athena Agustini in "multiple episodes throughout the season."

Wyatt Oleff will exit the starring cast after the season's seventh episode, "Chapter Seven: Shadowboxer". With Oleff's exit, none of Eddie's (Finn Wolfhard) former high-school colleagues will have been left in the main cast.

All first 7 episodes of the third season are titled after songs: "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" by The Clash, "Training Wheels" by Melanie Martinez, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles, "Once Upon a Dream" from the soundtrack of Sleeping Beauty, "Alphabet Boy" also by Martinez, "Motion Sickness" by Phoebe Bridgers, and "Shadowboxer" by Fiona Apple.

Development
In February 2019, Warner Bros. Television announced it was developing an untitled coming-of-age teen drama series produced, directed and written by Sofia Coppola for HBO with hopes for its first season to premiere in early 2020. With Coppola eventually shifting focus on post-production for her film On The Rocks, the plan proggressively fell apart additionally after the COVID-19 pandemic hit at end of year.

In June 2020, HBO announced the series was still in development with pilot commitment with Coppola on board and Finn Wolfhard now attached to its lead role, with hopes to begin shooting as soon as social distancing was no longer necessary. After Coppola's On The Rocks finished post-production, she spent the next several months of her pandemic isolation writing a significant portion of the first season of the series without knowing whether it would get picked up for a full season or not; in September, HBO announced it had officially ordered a 22-episode first season for the series, now officially titled What Is a Youth, after being impressed with Coppola's scripts, with filming expected to kick off in Brazil in fall 2021 with a spring 2022 release in mind.

Location
After HBO's full-season order for the first season in early September 2020, Sofia Coppola immediately left for Brazil that same month in order to proceed beginning on location scouting for the series; she landed on the concept of setting it in southern Brazil quickly and had set Lages, Santa Catarina in stone as the series' main setting by October, after that shifting focus towards casting.

Season 1 (2022)
Finn Wolfhard was the first individual after Sofia Coppola to get attached to the project, having been cast by Coppola as Eduardo/Eddie by June 2020. After finishing location scouting for the first season, Coppola had begun the process of casting for the other roles by mid October. Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer were cast as Brunno and Milene shortly after by Wolfhard's indication to Coppola due to their work together on Stranger Things. In November, Courteney Cox and David Arquette were announced to be starring as Patricia and Osvaldo after joint private meetings with Coppola and HBO about the project had taken place throughout the previous month; Coppola cited Cox and Arquette's chemistry in the Scream films as a major factor in their casting.

After informally casting Heaton, Dyer, Cox and Arquette, Coppola began process on auditions for the remainder of the major starring roles; Olivia Rodrigo was first to be cast by Coppola and was announced to star as Ana Luiza by late December. In January 2021, Lachlan Watson, Wyatt Oleff, Mason Gooding and Bailee Madison were cast as Raí, Olímpio, Saimon and Mayane, with Ian Harding, Peyton Kennedy and Gabriella Pizzolo being cast as Evandro, Ana Carolina and Débora the week after. After having reportedly been in talks with HBO and Coppola since October, Jessica Lange closed her deal to star as Joanita by March 2021, with Xolo Maridueña also being cast as the voice of Matheus.

In December, TVLine reported that Coppola was in the process of casting a new main female character who would join the cast midway through the season. In January 2022, Reneé Rapp was cast as Iasmin.

Season 2 (2023)
In September 2022, after the first season's midseason-premiere episode "Chapter Twelve: Strike Me Pretty Hard In The Heart" aired on HBO, Sofia Coppola and Finn Wolfhard announced through an Instagram livestream that What Is A Youth had been officially renewed for a second season with both of their returns confirmed and filming expected to be fast-tracked and begin in November; Wyatt Oleff and Ian Harding subsequently revealed they were contracted for a second season, with Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer also shortly confirming they would reprise their roles. In October, a dramatic press-release hit the trades announcing Lachlan Watson, Mason Gooding, Gabriella Pizzolo, Reneé Rapp, Peyton Kennedy and Bailee Madison would not return for the second season, with strong rumors Olivia Rodrigo would also not return due to her skyrocketing singing career following her debut studio album Sour. A day after, Rodrigo officially announced her exit from the main cast, but confirmed she was set to return as a special guest star for several episodes in the second season. The same week, it was confirmed Watson and Rapp had also signed deals similar to Rodrigo's, allowing for multiple appearances the following season. Shortly after, Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Jessica Lange closed deals to return for the second season with Xolo Maridueña also confirmed to return as the voice of Matheus.

By the time filming on Season 2 started in November 2022, it was announced the season would be filmed and aired into two separate parts, with Part 2 only set to begin filming in May 2023 to accomodate Finn Wolfhard's body transformation needed for the new episodes. In December, Zackary Arthur was cast as Devon, with Annabeth Gish being cast as Jane the next March. With no prior announcement, Ian Harding exited the series after the season-two midseason premiere "Chapter Eight: The Blue Prince".

Season 3 (2024)
In May 2023, during an Instagram livestream hosted shortly after the premiere of the second-season midseason finale "Chapter Seven: Crystal Coffin", Sofia Coppola revealed the second season was not planned to be the series' last, By July, Coppola revealed she had readied script drafts for "nearly half" of a possible third season and was merely waiting for HBO's green light.

In late August, HBO officially renewed the series for a third season, with original series regulars Wolfhard, Heaton, Dyer, Oleff, Maridueña, Arquette, Cox and Lange, as well as second-season additions Arthur and Gish, having pre-agreed done deals for the third season, with filming set to unravel in Brazil in mid October; the cable network cited the larger episode order as the factor for the early filming start. In early September, it was announced previously recurring guest stars Kizzy Edgell, Sophia Lillis and Mason Thames had been promoted to series regulars for the third year.

oct 2023 - 1,2

nov 2023 - 3,4,5

dec 2023 - 6,7

jan 2024 - 8,9,10

feb 2024 - 11,12,13

mar 2024 - 14,15,16

apr 2024 - 17,18,19

may 2024 - 20,21,22

jun 2024 - 23,24

Season 1 (2022)
By March 2021, with Jessica Lange having closed her deal to star, all major roles for the first season had been cast by Coppola. Due to the bureaucracy with production taxes, set construction and traveling expenses to Brazil, pre-production extended until early August.

Filming for the first season commenced in August 10, 2021, and wrapped in April 15, 2022.

Future
During an interview for the third season's press tour at its red-carpet premiere event for HBO, showrunner Sofia Coppola vaguely explored the idea of a fourth season when admitting that her current plan for the third-season finale would not serve as a conclusion to the series. During the same event, stars Finn Wolfhard, Noah Jupe and Barbie Ferreira joked that they would like to see their characters graduating before the series ended, while Zackary Arthur said he hoped to see Devon and Eddie (Wolfhard) getting married, with Reneé Rapp saying she was hoping to return as Iasmin in series-regular capacity for a possible fourth season if her schedule allows it and David Arquette expressing his interest in continuing on with his role for "whatever time it would took to tell the full story."

Kizzy Edgell revealed he was hoping to star in "many more seasons of the series to come", citing that the writers have only "scratched the surface" with the character of Jess and will now "have an opportunity to dig deeper" into his story after Edgell's starring-cast promotion.