| Italic Title: | no |
| Genre: | Teen drama |
| Creator: | Julie Andem |
| Country: | Belgium |
| Language: | Flemish |
| Num Seasons: | 8 |
| Num Episodes: | 82 |
| Location: | Antwerp |
| Runtime: | 18–38 minutes |
| Company: | Sputnik Media[1] |
| Last Aired: | present |
WtFOCK (stylised as wtFOCK, pronounced as wha-teh-fock) is a Belgian teen drama web series broadcast by Play4 that follows the lives of teenagers in Antwerp. Broadcast was then taken over by Belgian streaming services Play More,, and in preceding years. It is an adaptation of the popular Norwegian series SKAM.[2] By the end of the first season, it was reported that around 100,000 people were watching wtFOCK every week.[3] When the show returned with a sixth season, featuring a new cast and original storylines, it was estimated that wtFOCK episodes had been streamed over 3 million times since their release.[4]
wtFOCK focuses on a group of friends in their teen life in Antwerp, specifically at in the first five seasons, and then at Kunstkaai Secondary School from the sixth season onwards. The show deals with daily and current events, like friendship, love and the search for identity. Every season centers on a different character, their daily life, and their own struggles. The show occurs in real time, meaning when something happens at a certain date or time, scenes are uploaded to the show's website, called "clips." The show also utilizes Instagram, TikTok, and text message screenshots to give the characters a realistic feel.
After the end of season 7, the show subsequently dropped its wtFOCK branding. However, the show still utilizes official wtFOCK accounts for promotion. The show also still uses other aspects of the original format, such as the characters' social media accounts and by dropping clips daily, although no longer in real time.
The first season introduces viewers to Jana Ackermans, the new student at the school that her boyfriend Jens and her ex-best friend Britt attend. Jana only spends time with Jens and his friends, until she makes friends with a new group of girls that help her gain back her confidence and courage, and helps her rediscover who she really is.
The second season then focuses on Jana's new best friend, Zoë Loockx, who goes on a journey of self-growth and self-discovery as she balances her friendships with her new found feelings for Senne, a popular boy at school, which clashes with her feminist values. Other themes for the season include sexual assault.
The third season follows Robbe IJzermans, Jens' best friend, as he grapples with his coming out, as well as his balancing of his relationships with both his mother, who suffers from mental illness, and his love interest, Sander, who is bipolar.
Starting with season four, the show tackled original storylines surrounding a new character, Kato Fransen. This season was created around the COVID-19 pandemic, also dealing with topics of racism, social media, and self-harm, as Kato starts a new school, makes friends with the Girl Squad, and forms a romantic interest in Moyo, a friend of Robbe and Jens.
Season five pivoted back to the original storyline in Skam, focusing on Yasmina Ait Omar, a Muslim teenager who starts to question herself and those around her, as she falls for Younes, her brother's friend who isn't Muslim, and becomes isolated at school from her friend group due to racist and xenophobic incidents that occur while planning a school trip.
Starting from season six onwards, wtFOCK introduced a new set of original characters. These characters have no connections to the previous cast, and attend a different school. The main character of season 6 is Ada Konings, who struggles to understand her sexuality after hesitating to lose her virginity to her boyfriend, Finn, as well as struggling to balance that with her friendships and her relationship with her half-sister, Mila.
Season 7 focuses on one of Ada's friends, Anaïs Davis, who is considered the "mom" of their friend group. As her parents begin the divorce process, Anaïs begins to use alcohol and other substances to cope. She also meets Bobbie, who drags Anaïs into her own reckless life as they fall in love. However, one of their nocturnal escapades go awry, and hurts one of Anaïs' friends in the process. As a result, she feels torn between the girl she loves and her friends.[5]
Otis, a rebranding of the show, centers around Ada and Anaïs' friend, Otis Rojas. In this season, Otis is approached by Liv, a model scout who invites him for a photo shoot: the beginning of a rollercoaster in which the world of glamour, the catwalk and parties take center stage.[6]
| Actor | Character | Based on | First Generation | Second Generation | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | wtFOCKDOWN | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Otis | |||||
| Femke van der Steen | Jana Ackermans | Eva Kviig Mohn | 7 clips | colspan="12" | |||||||||
| Veerle Dejaeger | Zoë Loockx | Noora Amalie Sætre | 9 clips | colspan="12" | |||||||||
| Robbe IJzermans | Isak Valtersen | 10 clips | colspan="12" | ||||||||||
| Romi van Renterghem | Kato Fransen | colspan="6" | |||||||||||
| Yasmina Ait Omar | Sana Bakkoush | 6 clips | colspan="12" | ||||||||||
| Ella van Remortel | Ada Konings | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Laura Bekaert | Anaïs Davis | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Mathis Mavuela | Otis Rojas | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Actor | Character | Based on | First Generation | Second Generation | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | wtFOCKDOWN | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Otis | |||||
| Nona Janssens | Amber Snoeckx | Vilde Hellerud Lien | 7 clips | colspan="12" | |||||||||
| Yara Veyt | Luca Lomans | Christina "Chris" Berg | 5 clips | colspan="12" | |||||||||
| Jens Stoffels | Jonas Noah Vasquez | 5 clips | colspan="12" | ||||||||||
| Lilith Pas | Britt Ingelbrecht | Ingrid Theis Gaupseth | |||||||||||
| Sonja | |||||||||||||
| Sara Nørstelien | |||||||||||||
| Senne De Smet | William Magnusson | 9 clips | colspan="12" | ||||||||||
| Willem De Schryver | Sander Driesen | Even Bech Næsheim | 10 clips | colspan="12" | |||||||||
| Noa Izai Tambwe Kabati | Moyo Makadi | Mahdi Disi | 4 clips | ||||||||||
| Elias | |||||||||||||
| Aaron Roggeman | Aaron Jacobs | Magnus Fossbakken | 6 clips | colspan="12" | |||||||||
| Lars Brinkman | Milan Hendrickx | Eskild Tryggvasson | 5 clips | colspan="12" | |||||||||
| Hanna Mensink | Noor Bauwens | Emma W. Larzen | colspan="14" | ||||||||||
| Akram Saibari | Elias Ait Omar | Elias Bakkoush | colspan="12" | ||||||||||
| Ismaïl L'Hamiti | Younes El Amrani | Yousef Acar | colspan="12" | ||||||||||
| Mo Bakker | Finn Verschaeren | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Dara Oguntubi | Mila Minten | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Nona 't Jolle | Hanne Dewit | colspan="3" | |||||||||||
| Noah Wolfs | colspan="1" | ||||||||||||
| Jul Goossens | Bas Brosens | colspan="2" | |||||||||||
| Willem Loobuyck | Miro Goris | colspan="2" | |||||||||||
| Nell Cattrysse | Bobbie De Bruyn | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Felix Meyer | Jules Ghesquire | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Lauren Versnick | Liv Staton | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Brecht Dael | Elias Paradiaens | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Actor | Character | Based on | First Generation | Second Generation | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | wtFOCKDOWN | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Otis | |||||
| Luka Lemmens | Christoffer "Penetrator-Chris" Schistad | colspan="7" | |||||||||||
| Gill De Schepper | Mari Aspeflaten | colspan="7" | |||||||||||
| Mama Jana | Mama Eva | colspan="7" | |||||||||||
| Cassandra Krols | Marie Eggermont | Iben Sandberg | colspan="5" | ||||||||||
| Awa Ndiaye | Keisha Diallo | Argentina | colspan="6" | ||||||||||
| Zoe Schools | Maud | Sara Nørstelien | colspan="7" | ||||||||||
| Louise Bergez | Lisa De Geyter | Linn Larsen Hansen | colspan="6" | ||||||||||
| Stijn Coppens | Max Van Damme | colspan="6" | |||||||||||
| Jonathan Michiels | Viktor Deruwe | Nikolai Magnusson | colspan="6" | ||||||||||
| Amber van Asch | Helena Van Loon | colspan="6" | |||||||||||
| Shayma Moustafa | Aïcha Noori | Jamilla Bikarim | colspan="6" | ||||||||||
| Jamila Channouf | Salouah Ait Omar | Mama Sana | colspan="6" | ||||||||||
| Abdellah Dari | Hassan Ait Omar | Papa Sana | colspan="6" | ||||||||||
| Valentin Braeckman | Olivier | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Bavo Buys | Janesh | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Stefan Perceval | Luc | colspan="1" | |||||||||||
| Shauni Goetz | Tina | ||||||||||||
Season 1 aired from 1 October to 21 December 2018 and comprised 12 episodes. Jana Ackermans is the central character and the season focuses on her relationship with her boyfriend Jens as well as themes of loneliness, identity and friendship.
Season 2 aired from 22 April to 28 June 2019 and comprised 10 episodes. Zoë Loockx is the central character and the season focuses on her relationship with Senne, a popular boy at school, and themes of friendship, self-image and sexual abuse.
Season 3 aired from 12 October to 20 December 2019 and comprised 10 episodes. Robbe IJzermans is the central character and the season focuses on his coming out as gay and his relationship with Sander, who struggles with bipolar disorder.[7] It also deals with themes of sexual identity, homosexuality and mental health.[8] Clips from Season 3 were viewed ten million times within seven weeks of the series starting.[9]
Season 4 aired from 29 August to 7 November 2020.[10] [11] [12] The series diverged from the original SKAM storyline with a new character, Kato Fransen.[13] The storyline deals with social media, racism, self-harm, drugs, and COVID-19.
Season 5 started airing on 19 April 2021 and finished airing on 25 June 2021. Yasmina Ait Omar is the central character, with the season focusing on ideas of faith and religion, being Muslim in Belgium, and the holy month of Ramadan.
Season 6 began airing clips on 22 April 2023, ending on 30 June 2023. This season shifts to the perspective of a new class of students at Kunstkaai Secondary School, a school that focuses on artistic and creative pursuits. The central character is Ada Konings, who attempts to understand her sexuality as she hesitates to lose her virginity to her boyfriend, Finn. The season also follows her friendships and relationships with Hanne, Otis, Anaïs, Noah, and her older half-sister, Mila, who was held back a year in school.[14]
Season 7 was confirmed to be forthcoming after the airing of the last clip of season six. Anaïs Davis is the central character, and the season focuses on her burgeoning romantic relationship with Bobbie. Themes of this season include alcohol abuse, substance abuse, divorce, reckless behavior, and friendship. The first clip of the season dropped on 14 October 2023.[15] The season ended on December 22, 2023.
The season premiered on Friday, 17 May 2024, with clips dropping daily afterwards. The season centers around Otis Rojas, Ada and Anaïs' friend, who is scouted for a modeling job and quickly drawn into an intoxicating environment of fashion, glamour and parties. Themes of this season include toxic relationships, self-image, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and friendship. The season concluded with a two-hour finale on 12 July 2024.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, filming for the fourth season was halted. wtFOCKDOWN was a way to continue filming while social distancing.[16] [17] Starting on 1 April 2020, it follows the lives of the characters while in lockdown through video calls and messages.[18] wtFOCKDOWN clips have been viewed over 2 million times as of May 2020.[19]