Four days a week instead of three.
A new year with new learners at Hoërskool Arendsvlei.
Other new characters on the block.
And creator and head writer Theltom Masimila returns to the helm with Penguin Films.
This is the set-up of Arendsvlei Season 3 which premieres this Monday, 28 September at 20h00 for it first up-sized week, which now includes episodes on Thursdays.
Here's a close-up on the newcomers we're going to meet:
Dorothy Galant
Played by Ilse Klink
The Galants are a well-known family and Dorothy is the mother of Bompie and Angelique.
Nobody can understand how a respected woman like Dorothy is married to a man that is known as the most dangerous criminal in the area, Desmond Galant.
Desmond is suspect number one in various criminal activities, but it can never be linked to him.
Dorothy runs her household and her family with an iron fist but with grace and love. She is the perfect picture.
She loves her plants more than life itself and she talks softly and slowly.
She never breaks eye contact - almost to a point where you feel uncomfortable - but you don't. Because it's Dorothy Galant and she wouldn't hurt a fly.
Angelique Galant
Played by Chelsea Thomas
Angelica - the angelic one - is an innocent young teenager. Her mother calls her Angel. She's fragile and believes the world is a good place.
She knows what the people say about her father, but her mother always reminds her that those who are successful will always be hunted because of jealousy.
Angel admires her mother; she is a pillar in her community and in her household.
Angel is shy and keeps to herself. She doesn't make friends easily but there is an immediate connection between her and Candice.
Angel has no idea what the true nature of her family entails. She's fragile and under her mother's protection.
Candice Burger
Played by Nancia Dorland
Candice is a gentle person, but unstable. She is prone to emotional outbursts, then feels ashamed, and becomes calm unnaturally fast.
She is hesitant with making new friends or trusting people. The wound of having been abandoned by her birth mother, then the trauma of being raised by Natalie, leaves her vulnerable.
She has a playfulness about her that is latent.
She makes friends with Angelique, because Angelique will not take no for an answer, and is proud and delighted to have her first bestie ever in her young life, having been a loner up to now.
Natalie Burger
Played by Carmen Maarman
Natalie is a dogmatic, self-important woman who can manipulate people with ease. She wants what she wants and will not back down until she gets it.
When her stepdaughter, Candice, arrives, looking for her mother, Natalie is quite cold towards her.
She has raised Candice since birth, but has never really bonded with the child (now 18). She finds motherhood tedious, but does it, simply to feel good about herself.
Twice in one lifetime she has abandoned those who needed her the most.
Kaleb Jakobs
Played by Chad Baai
Kaleb is a 16-year-old boy who lost his parents in a car accident when he was 10. He takes care of his little brother Bobby, who is seven years old.
They lived in Clanwilliam and Kaleb had to grow up fast. He stayed in school and worked in the afternoons and on weekends on one of the farms.
They were able to stay on the farm where his parents worked all their lives, but Kaleb decided to leave Clanwilliam when he was 16.
He wanted the opportunity to get away from the world that reminds him of his parents every single day.
A relative offered him and his brother a room on their property but he had to work to be able to stay there - and also to keep his brother in school, who started grade one.
His parents left them some money to cover the basics but Kaleb is a very proud person and never takes charity from anyone. He will rather work for what he and his brother need.
We get to know him as a gentle, quiet, proud and hardworking boy.
Captain Krige
Played by Brendon Daniels
Krige is a detective from Clanwilliam and a childhood friend of Lionel's. He has just been transferred from Clanwilliam to Cape Town - Bellville station.
He bumps into Lionel, they reconnect, and rekindle their friendship.
He is a man of his word, with a strong moral compass. At the same time there's an edginess about him, and a quiet sense of power.
His rhythms are slower rather than fast, heavier rather than lighter. He's a thinker, with a good sense of humour.
One of the reasons he is friends with Lionel is because they are like day and night. Lionel makes him laugh, and he makes Lionel think.
He has unorthodox methods when piecing together bits of information on cases, and he often makes a breakthrough late at night, when he can't sleep because of insomnia.
He is addicted to sleeping pills and uppers, one to make him sleep, the other to wake him up from exhaustion.
It makes him erratic, and he's prone to mood swings, which he tries to keep under control from his colleagues and friends.
He is a loner by nature and has few friends.
Emmie Langeveld
Played by Inge Isaacs
Emmie is a new student at Arendsvlei, who recently moved to the suburb from Plumstead.
She is highly strung, dramatic, with a tendency to exaggerate for attention seeking. She has a nervous disposition - not an overly seductive one. She means well, though.
Emmie is attractive, clever, open, with an easy sense of humour, which helps her to make friends quickly.
She seems very light and airy on the surface, but underneath this hides sexual hang-ups and control issues.
She is intrinsically insecure about her body, unsure about her identity as a young woman, and is experimenting, like a typical teenager, to find out who she is.
Jake Sylvester
Played by Clayton Evertson
Jake is an attractive, strongly built man. He is both down-to-earth and highly calculating.
He plays his cards very close to his chest; no one would know about his traumatic past. He presents as a rogue with an ironic, dry sense of humour.
He is highly intelligent and has an uncanny ability to read other people's minds. This ability allows him to be provocative and push their buttons.
He likes catching people on the wrong foot; knowing things about them when they know nothing about him.
He is a brilliant impersonator and adopts different character roles and accents with ease.
He struggles seriously with commitment, both because it is in his nature and because he loves feeling free both on an emotional and physical level.
But deep down he struggles with commitment because he is scared to become too attached to anyone after losing his father. He does not want to go through the pain of losing someone close to him again.