Other Epitome Pictures employees and series crew members were also credited as executive producers, including Sara Snow, Brendon Yorke, James Hurst, Aaron Martin,[19] and Sarah Glinski.

Story editors included Sarah Glinski and Matt Huether, Shelley Scarrow, James Hurst, Aaron Martin, and Sean Reycraft.

[32] Dave Ogilvie and Anthony Valcic of Canadian industrial-pop group Jakalope reworked and performed the song with a heavier sound to reflect the growing maturity of the characters in season four.

He also worked with actors such as Jake Epstein, Melissa McIntyre and Jamie Johnston, when writing music for their characters Craig Manning, Ashley Kerwin, and Peter Stone to perform in the bands Downtown Sasquatch, Paige Michalchuk and the Sexkittens (PMS), Hell Hath No Fury, and Stüdz.

[52][53] Providing ties to the previous series in the Degrassi universe, Stefan Brogren was approached to play his old character Archie "Snake" Simpson, now working at the school as the media immersion teacher.

[57][58][59] In the pilot episode, former Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High actors Danah Jean Brown (Trish Skye), Darrin Brown (Dwayne Myers), Michael Carry (Simon Dexter), Irene Courakos (Alexa Pappadopoulos), Chrissa Erodotou (Diana Economopoulos), Anais Granofsky (Lucy Fernandez), Rebecca Haines (Kathleen Mead), Sarah Holmes (Alison Hunter), Neil Hope (Derek "Wheels" Wheeler), Kyra Levy (Maya Goldberg), Cathy Keenan (Liz O'Rourke), Stacie Mistysyn (Caitlin Ryan), and Siluck Saysanasy (Yick Yu) reprised their roles for the class reunion storyline.

Stacey Farber played Ellie Nash, a goth whose home life was in turmoil,[64] and Adamo Ruggiero portrayed Marco Del Rossi, who was struggling to accept the reality that he is gay.

Mike Lobel (Jay Hogart), Deanna Casaluce (Alex Nuñez), Ephraim Ellis (Rick Murray) and John Bregar (Dylan Michalchuk) were introduced in recurring roles as new students.

Towards the end of the season, Schmidt's character, Terri McGreggor, was written out of the show when her possessive boyfriend Rick pushed her to the ground and knocked her head against a rock, causing her to fall into a coma.

[71][72] Season eight saw many changes when many of the existing cast members, including Collins, Farber, Graham, Stepto, Ruggiero, and DiMarco either moved to recurring status or left the series entirely.

[76] Neil Hope, who portrayed Wheels in the original series, returned for a brief cameo in a third-season episode centered around Snake's battle with leukemia.

[82] Other guest actors who appeared in Degrassi: The Next Generation included Jayne Eastwood as Sean Cameron's mother,[83] Billy Ray Cyrus as Duke, a limousine driver who got arrested, which resulted Jimmy, Hazel, Paige, and Spinner being left stranded in the street.

[83] Season seven featured appearances from Shirley Douglas as a university professor,[84][85] Free The Children founder Craig Kielburger, and English pop singer Natasha Bedingfield as themselves.

After the series had moved to MuchMusic cameos became more frequent; Keke Palmer, Ben Mulroney, Chaz Bono, Hedley, and Fefe Dobson also made appearances in the show.

[95] That same month, on June 9, Epitome Pictures announced that a sequel series, Degrassi: Next Class, would premiere on Family Channel, owned by DHX Media, and streamed outside of Canada on Netflix.

[101] By March 2007, Program Partners had cleared it in over 70% of the country after stations owned by Hearst-Argyle Television, Capitol Broadcasting Company, and ACME Communications purchased the syndication.

[104] As of July 2021, reruns of Degrassi: The Next Generation continue to air on certain Canadian television networks owned by Corus Entertainment, including ABC Spark, CMT, and YTV.

The three-episode story arc from the fourth season in which Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes guest star has also been released as a single disc Region 1 DVD.

The Unrated release also features episode commentaries by Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Stacie Mistysyn, the associate producer Jim Jackman and writer Aaron Martin.

Back to Degrassi, New Kids on the Block, Shooting the Opening Sequence, 300th Episode Celebration, A Day with the Ice Hounds, Goodbye Uniforms, Inside Fiona's Birthday Brawl, Say Cheese: Photoshoot with Demetrius, Vanessa and Justice, The Making of Romeo & Jules, Bloopers, The Inside Look and The Table Read – Bitter Sweet Symphony, Graduation Day, Prom Night, The One and Only – Dylan Everett, Eli's Short Film – LIFE, Eli's Short Film – NYU Portfolio, Video Yearbook, and Episode Commentary.

[116][117] Of the first season, The Ottawa Citizen's Tony Atherton had mixed feelings of the new incarnation, saying it "has a cleaner, more polished look, has lost its edge [and offers] nothing new to viewers familiar with the groundbreaking preceding series, nor to anyone else who has watched the deluge of teen dramas since ... there is a sense of déjà vu with regards to the plots and characters".

[118] Before its debut in the United States, The Seattle Times' Melanie McFarland wondered whether the series would do well, writing: "soft-pedaling through the issues might work for today's family of viewers, but what's gentle enough for Mom and Dad's peace of mind might not be enough to hook Junior or the original Degrassi's older fans".

Sarah Liss from CBC News said that despite often being corny and soap opera-y, Degrassi: The Next Generation tackles issues that other genre series prefer to gloss over, and was part of her essential viewing.

[120] In 2008, Jeffrey Bento-Carrier described one storyline that showed a teacher being accused of sexually assaulting one of his students as "shock[ing]", adding that "Degrassi is not for everyone, mainly because it's an honest account what it's like to be a teen in a society which values cliques and confrontation over truth and real growth.

[127] The decision caused an uproar amongst fans who organized a petition that caught the attention of the New York Times, as well as CBC, the National Post and the London Free Press in Canada.

[133] The San Jose Mercury News has said "If they [Everwood, The O.C., and One Tree Hill] want to be taken seriously, the shows could take a cue from Canadian drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which ... addresses the same gritty teen issues without being far-fetched".

[116] While that figure was still far lower than successful shows on the "big four" networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC), the premiere episodes of earlier seasons had achieved higher audience numbers with females aged 12–34.

[160] The following year, the Scarrow-penned episode "Secret" vied with "Mercy Street", written by James Hurst and Miklos Perlus for the "Best Youth Script Award".

[166][167] Stephen Withrow picked up two awards in the "Outstanding Achievement in Picture Editing" category, for "Mother and Child Reunion" in 2002 and "When Doves Cry" in 2003.

Ryan Cooley and Jake Goldsbie were nominated in the "Best Leading Young Actor Performance in a TV Comedy Series" category, but lost to Frankie Muniz from Malcolm in the Middle.