By Kylie Sieberg - Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Heartstopper is a British Netflix original series about two teenage boys, Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor). Although it is rated TV-14, Heartstopper has been viewed and enjoyed by many younger audiences as young as ten. So, what is Heartstopper? Well, it is basically about the love story of Nick and Charlie, along with other LGBTQ+ characters/relationships. It shows the struggle of teen gay relationships in school along with friendship drama and discovering gender identity. The series came out on April 22nd, 2022 and was enjoyed by many, especially members of the LGBTQ+ community. Before the show was created, on February 27th, 2019 Alice Oseman released the first Heartstopper graphic novel.
Now there are five volumes, the fifth one will be released later this month. The books are more mature and involve more swearing and alcohol, whereas the show is more appropriate for pre-teens.
In response to what he thought of season one, Dagan Rosenblatt from 601 said, “I liked it. I thought it was pretty good. But it seemed a bit inconsistent.”
The ending of Heartstopper season one does not leave on a huge cliffhanger. The last episode, episode eight, ends just after Nick comes out to his mom as bisexual. Still, fans were left with one question; will there be a season two? Yes, Netflix confirmed not one, but two more seasons are coming! When will they come out? Netflix announced in early December that the filming of season two had ended, so the earliest would be mid 2023, but probably fall of 2023 would be more realistic. More characters from the books will also be in season two. Some examples are the two dating teachers, Mr. Ajayi and Mr. Farouk, Nick’s older brother (David), Nick's father, along with more Higgs students. Netflix on YouTube posted a short video of the cast, showing them practicing their lines. Thankfully, the rest of the characters will be played as the same actors in season one.
Cal Meier in 602 was asked what he’s looking forward to in season two. His response was, “I’m hoping the part from book three where they went to Paris will be in it, that was great.”
The cast of Heartstopper on TikTok posted some videos of them together in front of the Eiffel Tower, so hopefully there will be a few episodes in France! Maybe Nick will even speak some French, like he does in the books. Although there is still some time to wait before the next season of Heartstopper is premiered, there’s no doubt that it will be amazing. But can it top season one?
Photo by Isabelle Kamerling-Doobinin, from left to right: Emma Allen-Ryan, Effie Chin, Maya Cancel, and Sami McBride