Elite Season 4 - What We Know So Far

"Elite," the Spanish teen thriller, has three seasons of eight episodes each on Netflix — and pretty soon, a fourth will join the lineup. If you're looking forward to more of the amped-up drama, sexual themes, class clashes, and mystery elements that make up this particular guilty pleasure with split timelines (a "flash forward" format), you're in luck. 

The show is Netflix's second Spanish original series (after "Cable Girls"), and it's set at a super-exclusive high school in Spain called Las Encinas. Most of the students belong to wealthy families, except for three that were admitted after their public school collapses. The conflict between these students eventually leads to murder — and that's just the first season. Later, more dark events occur — disappearances and killings aren't unknown to this student population. 

With an appeal to audiences that transcends its high-society group of teenagers, the anticipation for another season of "Elite" has exploded after the confirmation of Season 4. Here's what we know about what's in store for the next season of the show.

The fourth season of "Elite" is coming to Netflix on June 18. There is still time to catch up if you haven't started watching the show yet, just in case it's been sitting on your list. 

In 2019, Netflix said in its quarterly earnings report (via The Hollywood Reporter) that the series, which debuted in fall 2018, had been watched by 20 million households. Netflix is clearly happy with this number, because the show has already been greenlit for Season 5 as of February 2021.

Production on this show seems relatively quick. Previous seasons have launched less than a year after each other, with the exception of Season 4, which aired about 13 months after Season 3  That's still a fairly quick turnaround in production, considering how other shows have experienced much longer delays due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on filming and traveling. With Season 4 arriving in less than a month, you can expect Season 5 to come in the middle of 2022. 

"Elite" is planning for a number of cast changes in Season 4. In fact, about half the cast departed the series after the end of Season 3. The characters leaving the fold include Carla (Ester Expósito), Lucrecia (Danna Paola), Polo (Álvaro Rico), Nadia (Mina El Hammani) and Valerio (Jorge López). Their stories at Las Encinas were wrapped up, and they've moved on with their lives and careers, like most high school students do. The lone exception is Polo, due to the conclusion of his story.

Among the characters staying are Cayetana (Georgina Amorós), Samuel (Itzan Escamilla), Rebeca (Claudia Salas), Guzmán (Miguel Bernadeu), Ander (Arón Piper) and Omar (Omar Ayuso). Four new characters are joining the show: Patrick (Manu Ríos), Ari (Carla Díaz), Mencía (Martina Cariddi), and Phillippe (Pol Granch) will provide new blood to liven up a new storyline. This looks like a solid mix of old and new faces.

Actually, it's uncertain what Season 4 and Season 5 will be about. For one thing, the remaining main characters should be in their final year of high school (unless they get expelled again). Furthermore, Season 3 concluded the mystery at the heart of the plot of "Elite" that began with Marina's (María Pedraza) murder, ending the narrative arc with the exception of a few ambiguous relationship subplots. This means the new batch of characters may bring an entirely new set of problems and a new mystery to be solved. We can't expect the peace to last, especially if "Elite" intends to keep up the type of drama we've come to know for the past 24 episodes. 

While you're waiting to find out what happens in Season 4, you might wish to tune in to "Elite" Week, in which Netflix will release "Elite: Short Stories" focusing on the different characters from June 14-17, right before the new season comes out. These stories take place during the summer before school starts to expand the world of the series. This should hold us over until the debut of Season 4.