I messed up on numbering and there's 88 main characters. I also forgot Wesley existed. He was a cute nerd that had cute storylines, a cute relationship with a redhead, and hilariously touched Clare's breasts on accidents in one of the funniest moments in the series. Then he disappeared. (I would've ranked him below Peter if I remembered him).
50. Lola Pacini (14-)
Problematic fav of Next Class, emphasis on problematic. Lola says things very unrealistic and over-the-top, but at least she makes the show interesting. I love her lack of a filter and the fact that she's so reckless. Despite being a flake, she means well, and honestly, she's not a great friend to Frankie OR Shay, but she OWNS her selfishness, unlike some others. While she's kind of a recycled Alli/Manny, she has her own flair that hasn't been seen yet, and I hope we see more of in the future. I sense lots of character development coming her way!
49. Chantay Black (4-11)
She was on the show for SO FUCKING LONG, she put a new name to high school never ends. Honestly, I liked her because she was super extra and funny and random at all times. She was a token minority character, and didn't get many storylines as a result. Running the Anti-Grapevine was the coolest thing she ever did, and she had some iconic moments with it, exposing many students, including her own date, Danny, calling him "cheap" for not paying the bill on her blog. Literally, LIVETWEETING HER DATE! I'm living. She also was always there for her friends, especially Anya. She brought a voice to the students throughout the series, and was the known school gossiper. The deepest her storyline got was when she brought the Power Squad back to Degrassi lol but she was a nice addition to the cast, and unproblematic always.
48. Archie "Snake" Simpson (1-, also in Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High)
Mr. Simpson is the only character to be in EVERY season, so snaps to that. Before he became the character of "school principal" that he's regressed to now, he was a media immersions teacher that fell in love with Emma's mom, Spike, and had a rocky relationship with her before they got married and gave Emma a brother, Jack. The adult storylines in the early seasons were awesome, and his wedding episode with Spike was the best. He made out with Ms. Hatzilakos, but that was just a... minor error in judgement? After his fiasco with almost being fired because of Darcy's false rape claim, he came back and has always been a pleasant, constant face on the show. He's this low because he's such a background character now and all of his development took place in seasons 1-7. Great step-dad to Emma, too! Loved him w/ Joey, Caitlin, and Spike together.
47. Esme Song (15-)
I really like her, and she is one of the bearable Next Class characters for me. Hopefully her crazy, manic ways fuck shit up for the better. But right now, she's not shown nearly enough to be higher on this list, and I'm only putting her here right now because she's a beacon of light in the darkness that is Next Class. But I like the "prim and proper badass" vibe she's giving.
46. Ashley Kerwin (1-7)
Another OG character, but she faded into obscurity after Season 4, being demoted to recurring status. I feel very neutral toward Ashley, and I feel like most people do, too. Probably, this is because she's somewhat ordinary and not one of the outrageously iconic people on the show. She has good qualities-- caring about Paige after her rape despite being treated like shit, her best friendship with Ellie, step-sibling dynamic with Toby, as well as bad qualities-- being super annoyingly over-achieving and dismissive, esp. in the beginning seasons. After she loses all her friends after taking ecstasy and fucking shit up, she gets better. I like her because she's one-of-a-kind, and there's no other characters that come close to being similar to her. I feel bad for her, too, because she kind of gets forgotten and she isn't really close to anyone else-- Jimmy and Craig both ended up not caring for her as much as she did for them, and she ended up on her own. While she was pretty selfish and pushy, she was also complex, and went through many phases.
50.5 Wesley Betenkamp (10-11)