“Finding Her Edge” is Netflix’s newest teen breakout bid — and its cast is built to turn a niche sport into a binge

Netflix’s Finding Her Edge isn’t trying to compete with prestige TV; it’s chasing something harder to engineer: a teen drama that feels instantly bingeable while still looking “specific” enough to stand out. By setting its romance in competitive figure skating, the series gets built-in stakes (training, pressure, judges, injuries) and a ready-made visual hook. The gamble is whether largely fresh-faced leads can carry the emotional weight. The early conversation suggests the cast is the reason the show is sticking.

The hook: one rink, three siblings, and a comeback that rewires every relationship

The story pivots around the Russo family’s struggling rink and the legacy pressure that comes with it. When circumstances force Adriana Russo back onto the ice, it doesn’t just revive her competitive career — it reopens family rivalries, old romance, and the kind of reputational drama that spreads fast in tight sports communities. Skating here isn’t background décor; it’s the mechanism that keeps people trapped in the same rooms, forced into the same partnerships, and judged in public when things fall apart.

Season 1 runs eight episodes, and it’s structured for momentum: training becomes intimacy, intimacy becomes leverage, and every win feels like it costs someone else in the family something.

Cast: who’s playing who in Finding Her Edge

The series leans on a core triangle and a family ensemble:

• Madelyn Keys as Adriana Russo — the former ice dancer pulled back into competition to help save the family rink and salvage a legacy she tried to leave behind.

• Cale Ambrozic as Brayden Elliot — the late-arriving, rebellious partner who brings both media heat and emotional chaos into Adriana’s orbit.

• Olly Atkins as Freddie O’Connell — Adriana’s former partner and first love, now skating (and emotionally entangled) in the same world she’s re-entering.

• Alexandra Beaton as Elise Russo — Adriana’s sister, whose own ambitions and setbacks fuel much of the family tension.

• Alice Malakhov as Maria Russo — the youngest Russo sister, watching the fallout while trying to choose what kind of skater (and person) she wants to be.

• Harmon Walsh as Will Russo — the family patriarch whose decisions keep the rink afloat, but also keep the pressure cooker sealed.

• Millie Davis as Riley Monroe — tied into the competitive and romantic crosscurrents around Freddie and the rink’s shifting alliances.

• Additional supporting cast appearing across the season includes Meredith Forlenza, Niko Ceci, and Yona Epstein-Roth, among others, fleshing out the broader rink ecosystem.

If you’re searching just “Edge,” this is the Finding Her Edge you want — a YA-leaning skating romance drama, not an unrelated sports documentary or a wrestling tie-in.

What the show is based on — and why it feels familiar in a good way

Finding Her Edge adapts the young-adult novel by Jennifer Iacopelli, with a romantic spine that plays like a modern, sports-world variation on classic second-chance dynamics. That familiarity is intentional: it gives the audience an emotional map (the “old love,” the “new partner,” the “family obligation”) while the skating setting supplies the fresh texture.

The result is a show that moves quickly without feeling empty: even when you can predict the type of conflict, you still want to see how it detonates on the ice and at home.

Quick answers people keep googling

Is it a movie or a series?
A series — 8 episodes in Season 1.

Is it on Netflix now?
Yes. It premiered globally on January 22, 2026.

Is there a Season 2?
No official renewal announcement yet. With teen dramas, Netflix typically weighs early completion rates, rewatch behavior, and whether the title keeps pulling new viewers after the first weekend surge.

For now, the simplest way to decide if it’s for you: if you like romances where ambition and intimacy collide — and you enjoy ensembles where siblings can love each other and still quietly sabotage each other — Finding Her Edge is engineered to hit.