Netflix's Victorious spinoff wasn't made for the fans who waited 13 years for it
Fans hoping for a Victorious reunion got a substitute teacher, a puppet and no Ariana Grande. The viewer Netflix is chasing this time is about ten.
The first 13 episodes of Hollywood Arts landed on Netflix on 15 October 2026, the first half of a 26-episode season, with the rest still undated. Daniella Monet is back as Trina Vega, now working as an unqualified substitute teacher at the school where she spent four series begging to be noticed. Within hours, r/victorious had a premiere megathread, a post titled "Hollywood arts is awful, ruined completely" and one fan's verdict on the opener: 4 out of 10.
The guest list is careful. Yvette Nicole Brown returns as Principal Helen, Eric Lange as Sikowitz, Matt Bennett as Robbie, with Rex the puppet in tow. Ariana Grande, who became a star on the original, isn't in it. Neither is Victoria Justice: one fan went through every credit looking for her. The showrunners are Jake Farrow, a Victorious writer, and Samantha Martin from Henry Danger. Nickelodeon's original ran from 2010 to 2013, which means its first viewers are now paying their own Netflix subscriptions.
Same school, same plots
The new students are Emmy, Pepper, Jen and Qwest, and fans who sat through the batch noticed something familiar about them.
Not the vibe, the actual plots:
"Anyone else realise that some episodes are basically a cut copy of the original series? Emmy getting her breakout moment at the big showcase like Tori."
— a commenter on r/victorious
The same commenter lists more: Emmy landing a commercial thanks to her CV, like Tori lying about doing her own stunts, and Trina ordering the kids to stay in character, which is the old Sikowitz sleepover episode. In the megathread, one viewer has already mapped the new cast onto the old: Pepper is Cat, Jen is Jade, Qwest is Andre. Another complains that most of the songs are covers, where Victorious wrote its own. Several say the school looks empty, all soundstage and no students.
None of that is an accident. Recycling a proven episode for viewers who have never seen it is the cheapest script in television, and it works on anyone born after 2013.
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The audience is ten
The other complaint is volume. Adults in the megathread call the show "so loud and busy", "way too bombastic" and pitched at TikTok attention spans. One admits they nearly switched it off. That is a 26-year-old discovering they are no longer the person being shouted at.
The sharpest comment in the threads doesn't defend the show. It defends the business:
"Nostalgia isn't enough especially when most of the main cast isn't coming back. They had to market to a new audience... which is kids."
— a commenter on r/victorious
To be fair to Netflix, that's the right call. A reunion built for grown-up fans needs Grande, Justice and the rest, and nobody pays that bill for a kids' sitcom. Nostalgia buys one weekend of viewing from people in their late twenties.
A ten-year-old will rewatch 26 episodes, then ask for a second season. Trina was always the right pick for that job: loud, vain and desperate for an audience, she makes perfect sense to a ten-year-old.
The fans who waited 13 years for Hollywood Arts got a spinoff aimed at their younger siblings.
The critics are with the grown-ups. Variety's review calls the show "a bland copy of shows from a past era", and What's on Netflix calls it a lifeless nostalgia grab. Neither review was written for the people Netflix is counting on.
What comes next: the remaining 13 episodes, then runs on Nickelodeon and Paramount+, with no dates for either. One fan is still hoping for cameos in the second half. Don't hold your breath. Those cameos would be for you, and Netflix has already told you who this show is for.