It’s hard enough accepting that “20 years ago” no longer refers to the ’80s. Now imagine falling into a coma in 2002 — yes, 20 years ago — and waking up in 2022 to discover that it’s no longer cool to wRiTe LikE tHiS?
Enter Senior Year, a new Netflix comedy starring Rebel Wilson. Wilson plays Stephanie, a high school cheerleading captain who has it all: Popularity, a hot boyfriend who wears a puka shell necklace and the title of prom queen right at her fingertips. But that comes crashing down when she falls off a pyramid and into a coma. Twenty years later — present day — Stephanie wakes up in a 37-years-old’s body and is forced to reintroduce herself to a world where NSYNC have long been broken up and butterfly clips are only cool in an ironic y2k revival sort of way.
But she’s not letting a pesky thing like time get her down. This former queen bee is determined to finish her senior year on top and become prom queen. This, of course, is easier said than done: High school hierarchy has changed over the years, and a Tiffany bracelet no longer cuts it.
In the trailer, Stephanie explains early ye olde 2000s popularity to her Zoomer pals in the school cafeteria: “There’s only, like, three ways to become popular: To be a cheerleader, to work at Abercrombie or to let guys go in the back door.”
And thus begins a journey for Stephanie that forces her to navigate the new rules of popularity in a follower-centric, social media ecosystem, while also coming to terms with the idea that maybe what mattered to her as a teen doesn’t need to matter anymore.
Senior Year premieres May 13.
