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If Heated Rivalry had you longing to lace up a pair of skates and get out on the ice, you'll love Finding Her Edge, Netflix's new series about a young ice dancer following her dreams—and her heart—to win gold, save her family's legacy, and maybe fall in love. The series, which is based on a YA novel, is set to premiere on January 22, and, according to one cast member, “the surface isn’t the whole story.”
For starters, in case you think this is a show solely about figure skating, think again, says Finding Her Edge executive producer and showrunner Jeff Norton. “For me, this isn’t actually a show about skating,” he explains. “It’s about a group of people who find themselves at a crossroads in their lives and have to navigate through the messiness of life: first loves, true loves, duty, family and passion as the drama plays out against the exciting world of figure skating.” The show centers on Adriana Russo, a young woman born into a skating dynasty, who teams up with a new ice dancing partner and fakes a romance while still harboring feelings for her former partner—a past love who just so happens to be competing against her.
Madelyn Keys, who plays Adriana, shares that the writing team did an “incredible job creating flawed characters that you still want to root for,” even if you've never worn skates. “I also genuinely believe you can tell when actors are having fun, and that feeling transfers through the screen to the audience,” she tells Teen Vogue. “I can’t wait for your cheeks to hurt from smiling the way mine did.”
Olly Atkins plays Freddie, Adriana's first love, and he describes the characters as “messy, complicated, and chasing their dreams.” Cale Ambrozic, who plays Brayden, adds that Finding Her Edge isn't just a love story; there's “always something deeper going on” under the surface. “Watching audiences uncover that is going to be really fun.”
Alexandra Beaton, who plays Adriana's sister and fellow skater Elise, praises the “dynamic between the sisters” as one of the best parts of the show. “Maddy and Alice [Malakhov] were absolute joys to work with; our days on set together were easily among my favorites,” she shares. “I am incredibly close to my own sister, Sophie, so being able to take that innate sisterly energy and channel it into our on-screen relationships felt very special. That genuine warmth and the fact that we actually like each other really come through onscreen.”
Playing figure skaters also meant that the cast developed a new appreciation for the sport itself. “As actors, I think we have a similar understanding and appreciation for the emotional and connection elements of performances, but I cannot fathom doing it all on blades,” Keys says. “While I was a huge fan of figure skating before working on this show, I’d never seen it live, and the cameras truly don’t catch how fast the skaters are going while performing their routines.” She started following ice dancing more closely after landing the role of Adriana and says she'll be “screaming” watching the Olympics this year.
Finding Her Edge debuts on Netflix on January 22. Below, Teen Vogue has an exclusive, brand-new trailer for the eight-episode series.
