Break out the pom-poms! Season two of Cheer arrives on Netflix today, two years after season one took the country by storm, with the COVID-19 pandemic, along with a serious criminal accusation leveled against one of the Navarro College teammates threatening to upend the 2020 cheer season.
After season one made cheerleader Jerry Harris a star, he was charged with multiple counts of child sex abuse and pornography. Cheer creator and director Greg Whiteley tells ABC Audio season two will devote an entire episode to the allegations.
“The moment Jerry is arrested and there is a ripple effect and the team can think of nothing else. A lot of this is happening while we are dark as a film crew because of the pandemic,” he explains.
“We’re seeing the aftermath of all of it, and that whole storyline cast a very long shadow on this particular team…something [they’re] continuing to wrestle with and grapple with,” Whiteley adds.
Season two starts in early 2020, with the next big competition scheduled for April, after the team has “spent hours and hours and hours, each day…preparing for this competition.”
“And as they’re getting closer to [the pandemic], we are filming this drama in real time. And they get the news that in fact, Daytona was shut down.”
Season one made coach Monica Aldama and her Navarro College cheer team super famous, something Whiteley admits none of them could’ve predicted, and that brings up some questions as we start season two.
“Are they still able to put in the very rigorous preparation that’s necessary to be ready for Daytona? How do other teammates feel about certain teammates of theirs that are becoming famous and they’re not quite as famous?” he tells ABC Audio. “And all that was interesting to us.”
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