Young Royals stars ‘hated’ this ‘cringe’ finale moment
Edvin Ryding as Prince Wilhelm (left) and Omar Rudberg as Simon in Young Royals. (Netflix)
As season three ends and Young Royals finishes forever, stars Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg have revealed that they was a part of the finale they “hated from the beginning”.
Warning: this article contains big spoilers for Young Royals season three, episode six.
Well, it happened. As every Young Royals fan was calling for, (former) Prince Wilhelm (Ryding) and Simon (Rudberg) – aka Wilmon – have had their end game.
In episode six, Wilhelm officially decided to abdicate and hand over the responsibility of being a future king to his rival, August (Malte Gårdinger). The beloved queer series ended with a kiss and a happy ever after for Wille and Simon, and a sense of justice for fans of the show.
Despite their story coming to a *chef’s kiss* conclusion, actors Ryding and Rudberg have revealed that there was one element of that last episode that they both found “really cringe” – and almost refused to do.
Speaking to Variety, the pair opened up about initially feeling uncomfortable with the song that Simon performed for Wilhelm in the final episode, dubbed “Wille’s Song”.
The pair were particularly unsure about the new song, considering the incredibly positive fan response to “Simon’s Song” in season two. So much so, that Ryding went as far to say that they both “hated it from the beginning”.
Omar Rudberg explained that his disdain for the song came from being “very stressed out” during the busy filming of the season, but also the simple fact that he found the lyrics “really cringe”.
“My first thoughts were that this was really cringe. Like, would Simon really write something like this? Would he really use these words? So it took some time for me to like it, because we didn’t even have the time to rewrite it since we were shooting it the next day,” he said.
When Edvin Ryding heard the song for the first time, he even tried to convince Rudberg to refuse to sing it, or beg the show’s creators to change it.
“I was like, ‘Why would anyone be moved by this?’ I also think that the way we are in that process, we are always critical about what is happening to Wilhelm and Simon. But we just gave into this feeling of trust that this was right, and it is going to pan out,” Ryding explained further.
Considering the duo have played the roles of Simon and Wilhelm for three seasons now, it’s unsurprising that there was an element of feeling protective over their characters.
“This is, like, Simon’s second or third song that he has ever written. But for me, the one who was going to sing it, it was very personal,” Rudberg said.
“Singing is very personal for me, and if I don’t vibe with something, I’m probably going to hate it so much. But I had to understand that this is Simon singing, not Omar singing. This is Simon’s writing, not mine. So we just did it.”
Eventually, the pair put their trust in the show’s co-creator Lisa Ambjörn, and decided to just do the song. Thankfully, after seeing the season as a whole, they’ve changed their mind – and now think “Wille’s Song” is “beautiful” – as do the fans.
“That day, I didn’t know the lyrics, the melody, or the chords. I couldn’t play the keyboard, so I had to do it acapella, and I had this inner earpiece that is literally hidden in the scene where I can hear the demo. It was a whole hot mess,” Rudberg reflected.
“But now that I’ve seen the whole context of the season, it makes sense. You get that it is Simon writing in his room and from his heart. It is beautiful.”
Young Royals season three is streaming in full on Netflix now.
