The show On My Block was released by Netflix back in 2018 and went on to run for four seasons. It followed the lives of a group of inner-city teens in a tough Los Angeles neighborhood called Freeridge, exploring their relationships and struggles with gang culture as they began high school. The show was praised by critics and enjoyed by audiences, so after the fourth season ended in 2021, Netflix evidently decided that it deserved a spin-off that would further explore the neighborhood of Freeridge.

The new show Freeridge tells the story of a fresh group of characters who stumble into some kind of supernatural situation when they get their hands on a cursed box. The connection between the new characters and the old group from On My Block is not immediately clear — maybe they’re distant relatives, maybe classmates in school, or maybe the connection is just that they happen to live in the same fascinating neighborhood. If you’re curious to find out, why not watch the show and see?

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Freeridge: The Plot

The heart of the show is a pair of sisters named Gloria and Ines, who attend the same school and have an intense case of sibling rivalry. It’s likely that throughout the show each will learn to see the value in the other’s unique personality and skill set, and they will gradually start working together instead of getting in each other’s way.

The plot of Freeridge seems to go in a less realistic direction than On My Block since one of the few things we know for sure is that the group of friends discovers a magic box that is apparently cursed, and begins to exert a sinister influence on their lives and fortunes.

On My Block dealt with the danger of gang culture and the difficulty of avoiding involvement in violence, so it’s likely that Freeridge will touch on this as well. Since the main characters are teens, it’s also a good bet that there will be some standard high school drama mixed in. Expect fights, relationship drama, stress over academic performance, and the cut-throat popularity contest of high school.

Freeridge: The Cast

     Netflix

The original cast members of On My Block will apparently not be appearing in Freeridge, although it’s not impossible that one may pop up for a brief cameo. The most recognizable face in the new cast is that of Keyla Monterroso Mejia, who previously had a hilarious role in Season 11 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, where she played a profoundly talentless young actress. In Freeridge she will play Gloria, a Latina high school student who is hard-working, motivated, and possibly the leader of the group. Gloria’s younger sister Ines will be played by Bryana Salaz, the main star of the Netflix show Team Kaylie, and she was previously on Season 7 of The Voice as a member of Gwen Stefani’s team. Ines is intelligent and academically accomplished, having skipped one grade in school.

Ciara Riley Wilson will play Demi, an Asian-American social worker and incurable optimist. Other cast members will include Shiv Pai and Peggy Blow, who played Abuelita in On My Block. Peggy may reprise the role of Abuelita in Freeridge, or play a completely new character.

The character of Cameron is played by Tenzing Norgay Trainor, who is the grandson of the famous Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two men to summit Mount Everest in 1953, the other being the mountaineer Edmund Hillary. Cameron is a bisexual student with a crippling fear of women. This fear has held him back from dating any girls so far, but he has apparently compensated by dating an impressive succession of boys.

Release Date

This exciting new show is due to be released on February 2.

Everything Else We Know

Filming took place in throughout the summer of 2022. Since the show is set entirely in Los Angeles, the show was filmed completely on location.

Freeridge was created by a diverse group of writers including Lauren Iungerich, Jeremy Haft, Jamie Uyeshiro, Eddie Gonzalez, and Jamie Dooner. Gonzales is a television writer from Ecuador who originally wrote for Ecuadorian shows but soon made a move into writing for American productions. Three of these creatives were also instrumental in creating On My Block (Haft, Iungerich, and Gonzalez), and released a statement thanking fans of On My Block.

Since On My Block ended in 2021, fans of the show have, presumably, been patiently waiting and looking forward to Freeridge. Now, finally, you don’t have much longer to wait.