Netflix's Back To 15 Release Date, Cast, And Plot - What We Know So Far
Over the past decade, Netflix transformed itself from the little streamer that could into a Hollywood powerhouse boasting one of the strongest portfolios of original content in the VOD game. Among the streamer's ever-expanding slate of originals, you'll find Oscar-winning dramas ("Roma"), blockbuster hits ("Extraction"), and award-winning series ("Ozark"). Netflix also boasts as astonishing a lineup of foreign-language originals as you'll find in the entirety of the streaming realm.
And Netflix brass continues to prove savvier than most at finding insanely bingeable series on the international market, with the likes of "Squid Game" (Korea), "Lupin" (France), and "The Silent Sea" (Korea) ranking among the streamer's best-reviewed originals of 2021 alone (via Forbes). Those shows obviously err very much on the side of drama, but the streaming giant is looking to hit the international jackpot in the comedy genre this year with the release of "Back to 15." Here's everything we know about the series so far.
When will Back to 15 be released?
If you're wondering where in the world "Back to 15" hails from, the new series is a Brazilian production, so all six episodes of the show will be presented in Portuguese with subtitles for those who don't speak the language. Naturally, the series is also set entirely in Brazil and features a cast of rising Brazilian talent. It will stream exclusively on Netflix, which has dubbed the teen drama "heartfelt" and rated it TV-14.
If any of that info about "Back to 15" piques your interest, you'll be happy to know that the series is set to make its Netflix debut in the very near future. In fact, all six episodes of "Back to 15" will hit the platform on February 25, 2022, in both Brazil and the United States (as well as India, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden), so go ahead and mark your calendars accordingly.
Who is starring in Back to 15?
Of the rising stars appearing in "Back to 15," few are rising faster than Maisa Silva. The actor and singer was discovered in 2005 at the age of three after an appearance on the Brazilian variety series "Programa Raul Gil" (via Itatiaia). In the years since, she's become one of the more recognizable faces on the Brazilian film and television circuit, and "Back to 15" may well propel her to international fame.
As it is, Silva is playing the 15-year-old version of another rising Brazilian star in the series, Camila Queiroz. While U.S. viewers are likely unfamiliar with Queiroz, she's known in Brazil for her work in the long-running ensemble drama series "The Good Side of Life" and as the star of "Verdades Secretas." Silva and Quieroz will be joined in "Back to 15" by an impressive cast of Brazilian actors young and old, including the likes of Lucca Picon and Gabriel Stauffer.
What is Back to 15 about?
As for what that talented cast will be doing in "Back to 15," the new series looks to put a fresh spin on the formula that made films like Tom Hanks' "Big," Jennifer Garner's "13 Going on 30" and Zac Efron's "17 Again" hits with U.S. viewers. If you skipped those films, they each use magical realism to help their characters either fast-forward their lives from teen to adult or vice versa.
A similar device indeed drives the plot of "Back to 15," with the 30-year-old Anita thinking in the trailer, "If I could hit CTRL+Z in real life, I'd do everything differently." Anita finds her fateful wish granted by being transported back to her 15-year-old self. There, she seeks to alter her present by correcting some perceived mistakes from her youth. The trick this go-around is that Anita can apparently travel back and forth between ages and see how her past "corrections" are affecting her present.
Said twist should make for a fascinating, nostalgia-tinged exploration of fate as funny as it is heartrending. And that prospect should earn "Back to 15" a spot in any Netflix queue.