'13 Reasons Why' Season 4: Release date, plot, cast, trailer and everything about the series' final chapter
‘13 Reasons Why’, one of Netflix’s most contentious teen dramas, is soon to be back for its fourth and final season. Despite the many controversies surrounding the show’s depiction of self-harm and suicide, it has an enormous fan base. Globally, the show has received acclaim for its sensitive treatment of bullying, peer pressure, addiction, mental health, and a variety of young adult subjects.
Last year in August, just before the premiere of season 3, Netflix announced that season 4 would be the final one, and would feature “the core cast's graduation from High School, which will be a natural conclusion to the show”.
Release date:
Season 4 of ‘13 Reasons Why’ will premiere on Netflix on June 5.
Plot:
The first season of ‘13 Reasons Why’ was based on Jay Asher’s 2007 novel of the same name. It was centered around Hannah Baker, a teenager who commits suicide after bullying, sexual harassment, and rape. The story is then told through serialized tapes that she left for the various people who led to her decision and that is where the show gets its title.
Subsequent seasons, however, thrust her friend Clay Jensen into the forefront, as the story moved ahead in season 2 to a legal battle about Hannah’s suicide between Hannah’s parents and the high school, and the effect her suicide and various revelations had on her peers. It kept its core theme as bullying still as the season culminated to an attempted school shooting. The third season was a slight departure in that respect as it focussed on the murder of Bryce Walker, a popular athlete but also a sexual predator.
So where is season 4 headed towards? According to Netflix’s official synopsis for the show, in the series' final season, Liberty High School's Senior Class prepares for graduation. “But before they say goodbye, they'll have to keep a dangerous secret buried and face heartbreaking choices that could impact their futures forever.”
Cast:
Season 4 of ‘13 Reasons’ is all set to return with most of season 3’s cast.
Dylan Minnette as Clay Jensen
The 23-year-old American actor, singer, and musician’s most famous role is in ‘13 Reasons Why’. His TV credits also include ‘Lost’, ‘Awake’, ‘Scandal’, and ‘Grey's Anatomy’. He has also appeared in a variety of films such as ‘Let Me In’, ‘Prisoners’, ‘Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’, ‘Goosebumps’, ‘Don't Breathe’, and ‘The Open House’.
Alisha Boe as Jessica Davis
The 23-year-old Somali-Norwegian actress has had regular roles on a lot of television before ‘13 Reasons Why’. She was on ‘Days of Our Lives’, ‘Ray Donovan’, ‘Casual’, ‘CSI: Cyber’, and ‘Teen Wolf’. Her film credits include titles like ‘Paranormal Activity 4’, ‘Poms’, and ‘68 Kill’.
Brandon Flynn as Justin Foley
The 26-year-old American actor’s breakthrough role was in ‘13 Reasons Why’. Before that, he had starred in a couple of short movies. Post the Netflix series, he found a role in the third season of Nic Pizzolatto’s HBO crime drama ‘True Detective’.
Miles Heizer as Alex Standall
The 25-year-old American actor is most famous for his role in ‘13 Reasons Why’. Aside from that, he’s also famous for playing Drew Holt in the NBC drama series ‘Parenthood’. He has appeared in films like ‘Rails and Ties’, ‘The Stanford Prison Experiment’, ‘Nerve’, and ‘Love, Simon’.
Christian Navarro as Tony Padilla
The 28-year-old American actor, like most of the cast, also shot to fame with the Netflix series. Aside from small one-episode roles in various shows like ‘Taxi Brooklyn’, ‘Blue Bloods’, and more, he’s had a recurring role in the HBO series ‘Vinyl’.
Creator:
Brian Yorkey is the creator of the show. Speaking about the criticism the show has acquired in its last two runs, especially the explicit male-rape scene from season 2, Yorkey said: "We know that sexual assault is hugely under-reported, sexual assault with male victims is exponentially more under-reported than even sexual assault in general. And as a show that had already said we are going to tell the stories of sexual assault victims and survivors, and we're going to tell them in a way that is unflinching and honest, we said, wow, not only does this seem a credible story to be told but in a way, we felt there was an imperative to tell it. Because no-one was telling it. That (male rape) was a story that wasn't being told, it was a story that is happening in high schools today and we felt we not only had the opportunity but the responsibility to tell it."
Trailer:
While no official trailer has been released yet, Netflix released a short video on May 11, titled ‘Saying Goodbye | 13 Reasons Why’. The video began with a scene from the final episode of season 2, as most of the show’s main cast slow-danced together to ‘The Night We Met’ by Lord Huron, a song that has since season 1 been the series’ unofficial theme.
The video was a montage of clips from the final table reading of the show’s fourth season and featured heartwarming shots of all the actors smiling in tears and hugging each other.
Boe says to the camera in tears, “I will never forget this experience for the rest of my life. So, thank you!”
The video features a few shots of the upcoming season, but nothing that divulges the plot in any way whatsoever. It is likely that a more proper trailer for the final season will drop closer to the release date. Watch this space for more.
If you like ‘13 Reasons Why’, you will also like
'Euphoria', 'Sex Education', 'The Society', 'Riverdale', and 'When They See Us'.