It didn’t take long for Netflix viewers to start rooting for the Navarro College Bulldogs Cheer Team when Cheer debuted in 2020. Us Weekly is giving updates on Morgan Simianer, La’Darius Marshall, Gabi Butler and more of your favorite cheerleaders.
Netflix followed head coach Monica Aldama and her squad for six episodes in season 1, which started streaming in January 2020, as they trained for the NCA & NDA Collegiate Cheer & Dance Championship in 2019. While it appeared several students were done with their time at the Texas community college at the end of season 1, Monica explained to Us at the time that Navarro doesn’t “follow your typical NCAA rules like the other sport.”
She explained: “But for NCA, which is the company that we compete with for competition, you have five years of eligibility and three of those can be at a junior college.”
Monica added that they can continue their cheerleading careers for several more years outside of the NCA.
“A lot of them will go on to universities that are still competitive because not all schools compete. So I have a lot that go to Texas Tech University, the University of Louisville, Oklahoma State, Sam Houston, University of Kentucky,” she said. “Most of them definitely continue on at a university that does competitive cheer.”
Netflix quietly picked up the cameras to follow Monica and her team in 2020, but production halted amid the coronavirus pandemic. In March 2020, news broke that Variety Spirit canceled Daytona, which occurs every April, due to COVID-19 concerns.
As a result, there will be a time jump in season 2, which was officially announced by Netflix in January 2022.
“It’s nine episodes, so I do know it’s longer,” Monica told Us at the time. “It covers, I think, the first part up to where we get our season canceled and then picks back up with now — we’re coming back in a COVID year, which was so hard with all the COVID rules and stuff.”
Season 2 of Cheer, which includes Monica, Gabi, Morgan, La’Darius, Lexi Brumback and Shannon Woolsey, will include the 2021 NCA & NDA Collegiate Cheer & Dance Championship and members of Navarro’s rival school, Trinity Valley Community College.
Scroll through for an update on the cast:
