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Penny on M.A.R.S.
Genre	Dramedy
Created by	Beatrice Valsecchi
Written by	Beatrice Valsecchi Fabrizio Lucherini Giacomo Berdini Angelo Pastore
Directed by	Claudio Norza
Starring	Olivia-Mai Barrett Shannon Gaskin Finlay MacMillan Damien Walsh Luke Walsh Olivia Chan Jessica Alexander Ryan Dean
Theme music composer	Giordano Cremona, Federico Mercuri, Marco Sissa and Colin Paul Buffet
Opening theme	We are the M.A.R.S
Country of origin	Italy
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	39 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Nadia Grippiolo, Lucio Wilson
Producer	Piero Crispino
Production locations	Milan, Italy
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	3Zero2 The Walt Disney Company Italy
Original release
Network	Disney Channel (Italy) Rai Gulp Disney+ (Italy)
Release	7 May 2018 (2018-05-07) – 3 July 2020 (2020-07-03)
Related
Alex & Co. (2015 - 2017)

Penny on M.A.R.S. is an Italian teen dramedy television series that premiered on Disney Channel in Italy on 7 May 2018. The series is a spin-off of the Italian series Alex & Co. The series is commissioned by 3Zero2 in cooperation with The Walt Disney Company Italy. The series premiered on 4 June 2018, on Disney Channel in the United Kingdom. In April 2018, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on 18 February 2019. The show's third and final season premiered on 17 February 2020, also in the United Kingdom.

Plot

Penny passes the auditions to enter the M.A.R.S. high school, one of the most exclusive performing arts schools in the world. The M.A.R.S. has strict rules and is very competitive, and Penny and her schoolmates have to pass a daily test. Penny has enrolled with a fake name to hide her identity as the daughter of Bakìa, a popular singer of the time, to acquire esteem in her own right separate from her mother's. Bakìa had previously enrolled her daughter in a boarding school in Switzerland so that she could have a "normal" childhood and not hinder her career.

The only one at the M.A.R.S. who knows her real identity is Camilla, Penny's best friend. Sharing a sister-like relationship until they fall for the same boy, Penny will also have to solve the mystery of who her father is.

Episodes

Cast

Main

Recurring

1. Mike Weber is played by Luke Walsh in Seasons 1 and 3, and by Damien Walsh in Season 2. Damien Walsh also plays Nick Weber in the first two seasons.
2. Credited as Alton Terry in Season 1, Yonv Joseph in Seasons 2 and 3.

Production

In April 2017, it was announced that The Walt Disney Company Italy planned to produce an English language spin-off from the successful series Alex & Co. The start of shooting for the 17-part first season was planned for Autumn 2017. Penny on M.A.R.S. was produced in English instead of Italian because it was believed that the series could be sold better internationally. The characters Penny, Camilla, Bakìa and Freddy Wolf from Penny on M.A.R.S. had performances in the special episodes (the last episodes) of Alex & Co., in which the spin-off series was introduced. On 29 June 2017, the spin-off series after the last episode of Alex & Co. was officially announced in a teaser, thereby also announcing the title Penny on M.A.R.S..

The first table read for the first season was on 20 September 2017. Shooting for the first season began on 28 September 2017, and ended on 15 December 2017. The shooting took place in Milan and the surrounding area. The backdrop of the Music Arts Reiner School (short M.A.R.S.) is the building of the design department of the Bovisa's headquarters of the Polytechnic University of Milan.

Soundtrack

The first album from the series was released on 4 May 2016, in Italy. It contains the following list of songs:

References

1. "Disney Channel - Penny on M.A.R.S. - Una nuova serie". YouTube (in Italian). Retrieved 12 May 2018.
2. "Penny on M.A.R.S. starts in the UK". Instagram. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
3. "Penny on M.A.R.S. - la conferenza stampa della nuova serie Disney" (in Italian). 10 April 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
4. "Arriva Nella, principessa cavaliere che non aspetta il principe azzurro" (in Italian). 8 April 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
5. "Penny on M.A.R.S. promo". YouTube. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
6. ""First Penny on MARS read through"". 20 September 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
7. "Filming information by MotoreCinema". Facebook (in Italian). 29 September 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
8. "CASTING PER NUOVA SERIE TV DISNEY "PENNY ON MARS"" (in Italian). 4 July 2017. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
9. "Penny On M.A.R.S. (Musica dalla serie TV)". iTunes Store. 5 May 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2018.

External links

• Penny on M.A.R.S. at IMDb

• 2010s Italian television series
• Disney Channels Worldwide original programming
• Television series by Disney
• Italian children's television series
• Italian English-language television shows