Netflix is bringing figure skating drama back to screens with Finding Her Edge, and the newly released trailer promises more than just graceful spins and triple axels. Dropping on January 22, this young adult series blends athletic ambition with messy romance, family pressure, and the kind of decisions that leave marks deeper than any ice burn.
Based on Jennifer Iacopelli’s novel—itself inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion—the show takes viewers into a world where every landing matters and every partnership comes with strings attached. Here’s everything the trailer reveals about Netflix’s newest addition to sports drama.
Table of Contents
Finding Her Edge: The Players on the Ice
Main Cast & Character Breakdown:
| Character | Actor | Role | Key Conflict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adriana Russo | Madelyn Keys | 17-year-old figure skater | Torn between two skating partners |
| Brayden Elliott | Cale Ambrozic | New skating partner | Fake dating arrangement with Adriana |
| Freddie O’Connell | Atkins Estimond | Adriana’s ex-partner | Returns with new partner, unresolved feelings |
| Riley Monroe | Millie Davis | Freddie’s new partner | Creates competitive tension |
| Elise Russo | Alexandra Beaton | Adriana’s family member | Represents realism and experience |
| Maria Russo | Alice Malakhov | Russo family member | Adds family dynamic complexity |
A Rink on the Brink: The Family Legacy
The trailer opens at the heart of the story—the Russo family’s ice rink, once a celebrated training ground now facing financial collapse. This isn’t just background scenery; the rink’s survival becomes tied directly to Adriana’s competitive success. The pressure is suffocating: win at the World Championships or watch your family’s legacy melt away.
Adriana Russo, voiced beautifully in narration by actress Madelyn Keys, describes skating as both “commitment and stress.” It’s this duality that separates Finding Her Edge from lighter sports dramas. According to Netflix’s official description, the series explores how competitive sports demand sacrifices that ripple through every aspect of life.
The trailer’s cinematography grounds itself in realism—no glossy montages or romanticized competition sequences. Instead, we see grueling training sessions, tense locker room conversations, and the physical toll of perfection. For fans of authentic sports storytelling, explore our coverage of best sports dramas on streaming platforms and young adult series worth binge-watching.
The Love Triangle That Cuts Deeper Than Blades
Here’s where Finding Her Edge gets complicated. Adriana’s skating career fractured when her partnership with Freddie O’Connell ended—not just professionally, but romantically. The trailer hints that whatever happened between them left scars that haven’t healed.
Enter Brayden Elliott, a talented skater searching for a partner. He represents opportunity: team up with him, and Adriana gains access to international competitions and potential sponsorships that could save the family rink. There’s just one catch—to generate publicity and financial backing, they agree to fake date off the ice.
The trailer captures this arrangement through quick cuts and sharp dialogue, showing how the line between performance and reality blurs almost immediately. What starts as strategic partnership develops into something messier, especially when Freddie returns to the rink with his new partner, Riley Monroe.
Freddie’s presence forces Adriana to confront unfinished emotional business while maintaining professional composure. The competitive tension isn’t just about who lands the cleanest jumps—it’s about who can maintain control when everything personal and professional collides on the same ice.
Austen Meets Athletics: The Persuasion Influence
The series’ foundation in Jane Austen’s Persuasion adds literary depth to the sports drama framework. For those unfamiliar, Persuasion tells the story of Anne Elliot, who broke off an engagement years earlier due to outside pressure, only to encounter her former fiancé when circumstances have changed.
Finding Her Edge translates this to ice skating: Adriana ended her partnership with Freddie (whether by choice or circumstance remains unclear), and now must decide if past connections deserve second chances or if new opportunities—represented by Brayden—offer better futures.
The trailer doesn’t spell this out explicitly, but the emotional architecture is classic Austen: regret, social pressure, competing suitors, and the question of whether we can truly recapture what we’ve lost.
The Supporting Cast and Their Stakes
Beyond the central triangle, the trailer introduces the Russo family dynamics that shape Adriana’s choices. Elise Russo delivers what appears to be the series’ mission statement: success comes from “hard work, not magic.” This pragmatic perspective grounds the show’s approach to skating as disciplined labor rather than natural gift.
Maria Russo adds another layer to family expectations, while Riley Monroe—Freddie’s new partner—creates external pressure that forces Adriana to confront her choices. The trailer positions these characters not as obstacles but as mirrors reflecting different possible versions of Adriana’s future.
Realism Over Romance: The Skating Sequences
What’s most striking about the Finding Her Edge trailer is its commitment to portraying figure skating as grueling work. One powerful sequence shows Adriana skating blindfolded while Brayden guides her—a trust exercise that serves as metaphor for their entire partnership.
The dialogue reinforces this grounded approach. There are no inspirational speeches about dreams or destiny, just frank conversations about effort, partnership dynamics, and the physical demands of elite competition. It’s refreshing in an era where many sports dramas prioritize emotional catharsis over accurate representation.
For viewers interested in how sports media portrays athletic culture, check out our analysis of realistic sports storytelling in modern TV.
What to Expect When It Drops
Finding Her Edge premieres January 22 on Netflix with all eight episodes available immediately. Each episode runs approximately 44 minutes, perfect for binge-watching over a winter weekend. The series promises to explore not just whether Adriana chooses Brayden or Freddie, but whether those are even the right questions to ask.
The trailer suggests a show willing to complicate its own premise—where partnerships aren’t clean, where family obligations shape personal desires, and where the ice itself becomes a space to work through unresolved emotions. That complexity, combined with apparently strong performances and authentic skating sequences, positions Finding Her Edge as potentially more substantial than typical YA fare.
Whether you’re here for the romance, the sports drama, or the Austen adaptation angle, the trailer promises a series that takes all three elements seriously. Now we just need to wait for the ice to crack open and reveal what’s really underneath.
FAQs
Is Finding Her Edge based on a book?
Yes, the series adapts Jennifer Iacopelli’s novel of the same name, which was itself inspired by Jane Austen’s classic romance Persuasion, translated to competitive figure skating.
When does Finding Her Edge release on Netflix?
All eight episodes of Finding Her Edge premiere simultaneously on January 22, 2026, exclusively on Netflix with each episode running approximately 44 minutes.
