Younger S6: The hit romcom reinvents itself

Season 6 of Younger, the hit rom-com currently up for Teen Choice Awards for Summer TV Show and Summer TV Star: Female (Hilary Duff), is now streaming first on Showmax in South Africa.

Update – 11 June 2021: Season 7 of Younger has just landed on Showmax, which means every single season of Younger is now streaming!

Reaching six seasons is a remarkable achievement for Younger. After all, the basic premise – a 40-year-old single mom pretends to be a 20-something millennial in order to get a job in publishing – came with a ticking clock: we all knew Liza (Tony winner Sutton Foster in a Critics Choice nominated role) would eventually either be discovered or come clean, and what would be left of the show then?

That question will be answered in Season 6, because Liza’s secret is out, at least with almost everyone who matters to her, apart from Millennial’s marketing executive Diana Trout (The Good Wife’s Miriam Shor in a 2019 Critics Choice nominated performance).

Happily, while Younger needs a new synopsis, it’s still as fun as ever. Critics have given Season 6 its fifth straight 100% rating in a row. As AwardsCircuit put it, “Younger continues to get better with age” – which, when you think about it, is entirely appropriate for a show that started off being about ageism.

“Every year we seem to be gaining momentum,” says Hilary, who plays Kelsey in a People’s Choice nominated performance. “This show keeps taking all these great turns and right when I think that there’s nothing left that they can do, this season is better than the last.”

At the start of Season 6, Younger’s lead characters have all got what they theoretically wanted most: Kelsey is finally in charge and leaning into her new role as publisher of the freshly minted Millennial Print; Josh (Nico Tortorella from The Following and Scream 4) is getting the baby Liza couldn’t give him; and not only is Liza’s age no longer a secret, her relationship with Charles (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’s Peter Hermann) is also public now he’s no longer running the business, so there are no longer any barriers to them being together.

It’s (still) complicated …

Of course, storytelling relies on characters wanting something they don’t have, so don’t expect a season full of happily ever after.

“The world of Younger is more exciting than ever,” says Sutton. “In Season 6, the stakes are so high. So many of our characters have finally gotten what they wished for. But is it exactly what they thought? Is it exactly what they wanted? It’s going to be a rollercoaster of a season.”

Creator Darren Star, who won an Emmy for Sex and the City, adds, “There’s a lot of drama this season, probably more than any other season. Charles and Liza’s relationship gets a lot more real. There’s no such thing as a perfect relationship, so this relationship has a new set of issues as it grows in this season.”

But Younger has never just been about Liza’s love life. Season 6 continues the show’s evolution from a love triangle rom-com into a workplace dramedy, with Lauren (Molly Bernard) consulting to Millennial as its social media and PR strategist, making the publishing company more central than ever. “This season goes deeper into the workplace drama and how it affects everyone’s relationship with each other,” says Darren.

This is a good thing. As AwardsCircuit says, “When the show concentrates on being a workplace comedy about the challenges of being a female executive, Younger truly excels.”

While the characters may seem to have had all their wishes come true in the first five seasons, in Season 6 it’s the fans’ turn. “Everyone is always asking: when are you guys going to do a musical episode, because Sutton sings and I sing and Miriam sings,” says Hilary. Well, the pop star and her Broadway legend co-stars are finally giving fans what they’ve been asking for in the season premiere, as Liza and Kelsey track down Diana in Marie’s Crisis piano bar for an epic performance of Dolly Parton’s 9 To 5. That alone should be enough of a reason for you to add Younger to your watchlist already…