Joe Locke realised that he might be onto something special with Heartstopper on a recent trip to America.
“A man came up to us — he was 56, I think — and he’d come out the year before because he’d watched Heartstopper”. Now, the stranger “has a boyfriend and is the happiest he’d ever been,” he says. “Reactions like that make you realise this is a show that really matters to people.”
Such is the power of Heartstopper. Released last April on Netflix, the series – based on the graphic novels of the same name, by Alice Oseman – followed the stories of Charlie (Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor), two high-schoolers who meet and fall in love over the course of eight episodes.
With its positive depictions of queerness and sweet, sunny characters, Heartstopper became an instant hit with both critics and audience, and with season two due to air on August 3, expectations are sky-high.
This time around, though, things are slightly different. For one thing, the characters are getting older. “I want each season to feel like an evolution, to tackle new ideas and themes, and for us to see the characters changing and growing, while also preserving the hopeful heart of Heartstopper,” its writer, Alice Oseman, who also wrote the screenplay, says in a press Q&A.
“In season two, the characters are all maturing in their romances, their identities, and their outlooks on life and the future. They all feel a little older and wiser, and with that comes a whole host of new experiences and emotions.”
What sort of experiences, exactly? While most of last season took place in the fiction town of Truham, this time a chunk of the action will be moving abroad to Paris, as the friends head off on a school trip and take their first steps into the world of adulthood.
Not only do all the characters have their own romantic encounters or entanglements to deal with in Paris, but there’s also drama unfolding at home. Season two will see Nick’s older brother David (with whom he has a rather strained relationship) make an appearance for the first time, as well as Nick’s mostly-absent father Stéphane.
“Nick, you’ve already seen him come out to his mum and it was a super big thing, a really wonderful, beautiful thing for him,” Connor says. “Now he has this seemingly gargantuan task to slowly come out to the other people in his life and the people he cares about.”
In addition to Nick and Charlie, one of the joys of watching Heartstopper is in the diversity of the stories that it tells. This season sees Tara and Darcy’s relationship get even more complicated, as does Elle and Tao’s, while even the teachers, Mr Ajayi and Mr Farouk, find their own queer romances on the trip.
This is something Oseman clearly feels passionately about. “Due to Section 28, which prohibited the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ in UK schools, queer teachers couldn’t be open about their identities, or they’d risk losing their jobs,” she says.
“Seeing queer teachers on screen, with that history in mind, is radical and revolutionary. The concept of queer teens being able to reach out to queer teachers for guidance and advice feels almost utopian even to someone of my age, who was still in school a mere decade ago.”
At the same time, Oseman hasn’t been shy about tweaking the source material. Season two of Heartstopper will introduce the show’s first asexual character, Isaac, who is starting out on a journey of discovering who he is.
“I always knew that I wanted to include asexual and aromantic characters in the Heartstopper TV show in a big way,” Oseman, who is herself asexual (someone who does not experience sexual attraction toward individuals of any gender), says.
“The journey towards figuring out that you are [asexual or aromantic] is rarely seen in any media, but especially screen. I wanted to show that journey and all the self-doubt and confusion and messiness that comes with it.”
The show will continue to explore the on-off relationship between Elle and Tao, as well as Elle’s own struggles in deciding what she wants her future to look like. Her storyline this season introduces two trans teens, Felix and Naomi, with whom Elle becomes fast friends during a tour of a sixth-form art college.
“It’s just nice for Elle to have chosen family, which is a topic that’s starting to be embedded into Heartstopper,” Yasmin Finney, who plays Elle, says. “Chosen family is super important. I don’t know where I’d be without my chosen family. You need that in this world.”
As Finney explains, season two will also see Elle going through the wringer emotionally. “I’m really proud of Elle this season,” she says. “I really put blood, sweat and tears into her so I hope it pays off. I just want it to reach out to all the people that can relate in that sense. She just goes through so much.”
Many of the character’s crucial scenes unfold in Paris. “It was like Elle In Paris, not Emily In Paris,” jokes Finney.
With season two on the horizon, the cast are keen to underline how important the show is, especially in the way it depicts LGBTQ+ relationships. “It’s a celebratory story about queer love. Although it’s important to talk about the traumas of the queer community, for example, the AIDS crisis and homophobia, which goes way back and still continues, I just think it’s one of the first stories that’s been told that is just very positive and celebratory,” William Gao, who plays Tao, says.
“One of the really powerful things about Heartstopper is that it is a voice for a lot of people,” Connor adds.
“We’re not claiming to be educational or anything like that. But we do try and teach people that no matter what, it’s OK. It’s OKto not know, and it’s okay to explore and it’s okay to work things out. You’ll get there. It’s going to be the best thing ever, when you do.”
