The place do you go when you’ve reached fortunately ever after? That was the problem for Heartstopper creator and govt producer Alice Osman heading into season two of her syrupy candy smash hit Netflix collection about younger queer love. Season certainly one of Hearstopper, which took the world by storm when it premiered in April of 2022, adopted out homosexual teen Charlie (Joe Locke) as he falls head over heels for common, seemingly straight rugby participant Nick (Equipment Connor). By the tip of the primary season, Nick has found his bisexuality, come out to his mom (Olivia Colman), and is totally smitten with Charlie. Now that the 2 boys had been head over heels in like-like, the place was Heartstopper to go?
“In season two, we get to really see them being in an actual relationship,” says Oseman, Zooming in from Kent, England. “Being completely satisfied and excited to be collectively, and seeing them form of simply get to know one another a bit higher and perceive one another extra.”
Oseman, who makes use of she/they pronouns, pulled from her personal collection of graphic novels to proceed Charlie and Nick’s journey. “Their story may be very, similar to quantity three of the comics,” she says. Whereas Nick and Charlie are nonetheless decidedly within the honeymoon part of their teenage dream of a romance, season two of Heartstopper additionally offers with thornier topics, as Nick offers with the awkwardness of popping out and Charlie grapples with the aftershocks of years of bullying. “Balancing the lightness with the darkness is form of the core component of writing Heartstopper,” Oseman says.
Doing this isn’t at all times simple, particularly when your present turned a worldwide phenomenon for followers who like to see their favourite characters completely satisfied. “Displaying these lovely, lovely, healthful, pretty moments that Heartstopper is understood for whereas additionally exploring actual points that actual persons are coping with may be actually arduous,” she says.
Oseman managed that partly by increasing the purview of the collection, spending extra time this season with Nick and Charlie’s queer group of besties—Tara (Corinna Brown), Darcy (Kizzy Edgell), Tao (William Gao), Elle (Yasmin Finney), and Isaac (Tobie Donovan). “Now we have a lot extra happening for the supporting solid,” Oseman says, excitedly. And it’s true: Cracks start to indicate in girlfriend’s Tara and Darcy relationship;. Tao and his trans BFF Elle take their friendship to the following degree. Even book-loving Isaac will get area to interrogate his personal sexuality.
Inside the buddy group, nearly each letter of the LGBTQ+ spectrum is represented in a roundabout way. Oseman, who has beforehand mentioned that she identifies as asexual and aromantic, says that illustration was “positively intentional” as she “wished to indicate an actual various vary of experiences.”
“Though the present may be very centered on Nick and Charlie, I actually wished us to really feel that it has this large queer friendship group at its coronary heart,” she continues. “It is simply form of a part of what Heartstopper is: displaying all these individuals with totally different experiences, but additionally reassuring you that irrespective of who you might be, you could find pleasure and love and friendship and happiness and hope, and all that good things.”
After all, the teenage LGBTQ+ expertise just isn’t solely good things. Following the huge success of season one, 18-year-old Equipment Connor tweeted that he felt he was “pressured” to return out as bisexual, after rabid Heartstopper followers {accused} him of queerbaiting. On the time, Oseman voiced her help for Connor, replying to his tweet, “You owe nothing to anybody. I’m so pleased with you my buddy.” (Your complete twitter thread has since been deleted). When requested in regards to the scenario over Zoom, Oseman voices her help for her whole solid, with out singling out Connor particularly. “I really feel so pleased with all of them, as a result of I really feel so proud to have a solid who cares a lot in regards to the story and are placing themselves on the market, being superb representatives of the queer group and galvanizing individuals,” she says. “They’re so inspiring for therefore many younger individuals now. I simply really feel very pleased with all of them and protecting of all of them, and I need to help no matter they’re doing.”
Actual world drama apart, this season, Nick, Charlie, and their group of besties get to expertise queer romance in essentially the most romantic place of all: Paris, France. Taking pictures on location within the Metropolis of Love “was an enormous problem,” says Oseman. “It was actually tough. Filming in an enormous metropolis in very public locations round some highly regarded cultural landmarks—that is form of one of many greatest challenges you would face for making a TV present.”
Heartstopper shot for 9 days in Paris to seize its class journey episodes, which see the buddy group go to iconic Paris landmarks together with the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Louvre. “It was very intense,” Oseman remembers. “There have been loads of very early mornings. We had two of these mornings the place we had been up the Eiffel Tower at 7:00 AM because the solar was rising earlier than all of the vacationers arrived, and we had a small shoot within the Louvre as properly.”
The early mornings had been all value it. “It was actually, actually magical,” Oseman mentioned. “Though everybody was form of exhausted and stressed, I feel everybody actually treasured that have, for certain.”
