Netflix’s ‘Young Royals’ Gay Lovers Say Goodbye

(Warning: Spoilers ahead for Young Royals.)

Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg are slowly coming to terms with the sad reality they must say goodbye to Young Royals. The Swedish coming-of-age show premiered in 2021 and instantly became a beloved teen drama that gripped fans worldwide with its central queer romance.

Ryding and Rudberg previously had a taste of fame—Ryding’s acting career started when he was 5 and Rudberg was part of the popular Swedish boy band FO&O. However, the spotlight of Young Royals was a whole new level of attention, with the second season ranked the third-most-streamed non-English language series on Netflix worldwide. So now, after three dramatic seasons, the pair are emotional as they bid a bittersweet farewell to their precious characters and the show they love so deeply.

In Young Royals, Ryding plays Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, a teenage monarch whose lineage to the throne is interrupted by a burgeoning romance with Rudberg’s Simon, a fellow boarding school classmate. The past two seasons have seen Wilhelm navigate the crown’s omnipresent control over him while his adoration for Simon blossoms amid royal scandals, revenge plots, a narcissistic cousin, and breakups. The third season, however, sees a whole new level of angsty drama as the queer teens are left questioning their love and reassessing royal duties.

Speaking with The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, Ryding and Rudbergin discussed the much-anticipated Young Royals finale, the evolution of their performances, and what they hope for the legacy of their show.

Young Royals fans are itching for this final season but what was it like for you to read the final script?

Ryding: We did a table read. [Turns to Rudberg] You were not there.

Rudberg: I was in LA.

Ryding: I remember heading into that table read super excited. During the shooting of this last season, we all felt we were just going to try and enjoy it as much as we could and do it for us. This is the last time we’ll portray these characters. That was apparent from day one at the table read. It was such a nice vibe in that room. Beautiful.

How about you, Omar? Were you at the table read virtually?

Rudberg: No. I don’t remember when I first read the script, I think I did it by myself.

Thinking back from Season 1 to now, what would you say has been the biggest evolution in your performances?

Rudberg: When you get the opportunity to do multiple seasons with the same character you get to dive even deeper and deeper into your character. That’s been very interesting and helped us evolve. For me, with my first acting job ever, I’m very happy I got the opportunity to dive deeper and deeper. When you compare first season Simon and third season Simon, you really see a difference.

Ryding: Shooting Season 1 was very liberating. I was working with our director Rojda [Sekersöz] and she opened up so many locked doors inside of me artistically. It was a nice process to go through. Heading into Season 2 I felt so much pressure from myself as I knew we had an audience and I created huge expectations in my mind. It was such a battle within me when it came to what the audience expects and what we want to tell.

But now, with Season 3, I feel again that sense of liberty and freedom. The collaboration that we had with our director and the rest of the cast was so honest and trusting. I get very moved just thinking about it and that I managed to get back.

Omar, I saw at your first-ever solo concert you sang “Simon’s Song.” How different is it for you to perform as Simon as opposed to performing as Omar?

Ryding: It’s night and day!

Rudberg: It’s two completely different worlds. In Young Royals, as Simon, it’s a lot more intimate and so raw. How I sing as Simon is not as advanced if you compare it to one of Omar’s ballads. That’s something that me and Rojda [Sekersöz] in the first season battled over. She was fighting me as I [approached Simon] from the artist side of myself and when I was supposed to sing I went hard, did runs and wanted to show off. I love to show off! When I sing as Simon I have to come down a lot of levels to sound like a 16-year-old kid playing the keyboard in his bedroom. But when I was on stage and sang “Simon’s Song” I showed off!

Ryding: It was awesome!

Rudberg: I had a hard time with Simon in the first season in a lot of ways, makeup-wise, clothing, hair, singing! “Everything [needs] taken down a notch, Omar. This is Simon.” But it was a very good experience for me and my ego, to accept that I don’t have to be perfect all the time.

Edvin, something I’ve loved across the seasons is Wilhem’s fourth-wall-breaking look into the camera. It’s evolved across the show but that last look is especially poignant. For you, what is Wilhelm saying in that final shot?

Ryding: Taking it back to that first look in the camera [in Season 1], that was constructed during post-production. We went back to shoot that as we were going to end it with them saying goodbye

Rudberg: At the church?

Ryding: Yes, at the church. They realized while editing that we needed something more there and that something had changed in Wilhelm. Every one of these looks into the camera tells the story of where [Wilhelm] is.

For this third season, the first look we see in Episode 1, to me, says, “I just want to be free.” It’s a cry for help. He’s stuck in this negotiation with the royal court, lawyers, August, and Simon. He wants to be with Simon. That’s the decision he has made coming into this third season.

Then he goes on this huge ride [laughs] throughout Season 3 with ups and downs but towards the end, he grows up. He’s finally honest with his parents about what he needs and when he runs after the car, after Simon, and tells him, “I didn’t do this for you, I did this for me,” that’s such a pivotal point in his life. It’s monumental. He’s doing things for himself and not just for his relationship with Simon. That final look into the camera is him speaking directly to the audience saying: “Trust me, I’m going to be fine. You can go.”

Rudberg: It’s so beautiful!

Young Royals exists in a canon of LGBTQ+ shows on streaming platforms as a bit of an outlier as, for once, this is a queer show ending not because it’s been canceled, but because it’s finishing on its own terms. What are you hoping people can take away from this show as its legacy?

Ryding: Wow, I just got goosebumps! It’s a privilege, like you said, to know this is the final chapter in their story. I just want [the fans] to know that the legacy of this show is so much more than the characters. It’s the movement of the fans and their engagement, stories, and everything that they are. I want them to know everything that they do is a testament to how love will always win. It’s so fucking ok to be exactly who you are!

The bottom line of this story has always been that their issue is not that they’re queer. Wilhelm’s issue has never been that he’s queer, his issue has been the tradition he comes from, the expectations, and the system. He steps down and tells his mother “I’m not the next king of Sweden” because that’s what he needs to do to survive. He’s not made for [being king] and that’s fine.

Rudberg: And never stop fighting for love! Never stop fighting for freedom and fucking human rights!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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