Netflix, like many of the best streaming services apart from it, has been slowly but surely building up quite a repertoire when it comes to steamy romance dramas. It figured out quite a few years ago that audiences absolutely love a bit of relationship drama, and it's built out more than one mega-franchise from that genre. One of the first big hits for its efforts was Heartstopper.
This very British story about coming of age and coming out in the UK while at school became a huge fan favourite and ran for three seasons before Netflix decided that the best way to send it off wasn't a fourth season. Instead, we're getting a finale film, and it just got its first trailer ahead of arriving on 17 July.
Heartstopper Forever will pick up the story of Nick and Charlie as they head into a genuinely pivotal part of their lives, at the end of school. They're deciding what's next for them individually and as a unit, with Nick making ready to go to university and Charlie finding himself more and more as his introversion falls away.
As anyone who had a teenage relationship will know, though, these sorts of thresholds in life tend to bring a huge amount of angst and worry with them – and that looks to be guaranteed from the trailer. Nick's clearly feeling all sorts of anxiety about what his life looks like without Charlie right there by his side, and Charlie in turn is worried about their codependency.
Of course, that all sounds a bit worrying and negative, but I have a pretty good feeling that Heartstopper won't take the route of a super sad ending. Worst case we might get a relationship break while Nick sorts himself out an uni, but I reckon we get a rosier outcome for this pair. Netflix knows just as well as the original author of the graphic novels that the show's based on that people don't really want super depressing endings, after all.
If you're a huge fan of the series, you'll want to circle 17 July in your diary or get a calendar reminder in there – it's likely to be a big day for the romance genre on streaming.
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