The new coming-of-age series combines competitive rowing, romance and family drama
Netflix is diving into the world of competitive rowing with Crew Girl, a new eight-episode YA drama starring Miku Martineau as 16-year-old Teagan Tao. The series premieres September 10, 2026, and is aimed squarely at teen and young-adult audiences, with each episode running approximately 44 minutes.
The cast also includes Jessica Paré, Sam Braun and Kyle Clark, with Vivian Lin serving as creator, showrunner and executive producer. The newly released trailer gives prospective viewers their first look at a series that mixes sports competition with romance, friendship and family complications.
Gossip Girl Meets Rowing
Teagan arrives at an elite East Coast prep school after a family scandal upends her life. With no girls’ rowing team available, she becomes the coxswain for the school’s dysfunctional boys’ varsity crew, forcing her to win over teammates while dealing with the team’s arrogant captain, Josh Regis, and determined outsider Cam Dillinger.
The series has some surprising real-world inspiration. Creator Vivian Lin and co-writer Morwyn Brebner developed the premise after Jeff Norton approached them about creating a rowing drama, while Lin says they were inspired by an elite Massachusetts private school with connections to Harvard. As Martineau puts it, “Adolescence is sometimes messy and doesn’t go as planned.”
Netflix Keeps Investing in YA
Crew Girl arrives as Netflix continues building a substantial YA lineup rather than treating teen programming as a niche category. The streamer points to hits including Wednesday, Stranger Things, Ginny & Georgia, XO, Kitty and My Life With the Walter Boys as evidence of the genre’s broad appeal.
Netflix says its YA programming reaches audiences across generations, spanning romance, mystery, science fiction and fantasy. The strategy has also produced measurable cultural impact: Netflix reports that Finding Her Edge was followed by a 1,300% increase in global searches for its audiobook on Spotify, while stars from YA productions have seen social followings increase by as much as 3,000%.
With Crew Girl joining upcoming YA titles such as The Sticks, The Body and Poser, Netflix clearly sees teen stories as more than a passing trend—they’re a major part of the streaming service’s future.
