Interview
‘Heartstopper’ Creator Alice Oseman on Why Season 3 Was the ‘Right Moment’ for Nick & Charlie’s First Time
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Heartstopper Season 3.]
Is it too on the nose to say that we heart Heartstopper? First introduced to the world in 2016 as a free webcomic on Tumblr by then-22-year-old creator Alice Oseman, the adventures of Nick and Charlie, two teenage boys who meet at the British equivalent of high school, fall in love and find a supportive circle of friends has blossomed into a global delight. In 2019, the first collected volume of Oseman’s stories dropped as a graphic novel, with subsequent books releasing in the ensuing years, eventually inspiring Netflix’s perfect live-action adaptation that currently stars the exquisitely cast Kit Connor and Joe Locke as our favorite couple.
With over a million copies in print, a new volume on stands now, and the show back with its very eventful third season, the love for (and in) Heartstopper is unstoppable. As someone who grew up in a generation where queer romance was presented as perverse, forbidden, or doomed to tragedy, it is not a stretch to say that Oseman’s unabashedly optimistic ode to the thrill of first love could quite literally be saving the lives of queer young adults who need to hear that they, too, matter. That they are worthy of and capable of love and physical intimacy. Oseman knows that, and it shows in the love that she not only puts into Heartstopper but also the love she has for it. Thankfully, we got to share that sentiment with her during this exclusive Swooon chat.
You were so young when you started it all, which probably explains how you captured these marrow-deep, gut-punch emotions that are so heightened when we’re teens. But it’s still so universal as an adult. When I watch these stories, it takes me back. How has it been for you to take a webcomic to where it is now?
Alice Oseman: It’s been the most insane journey imaginable. This just doesn’t happen. It started as a webcomic that I was uploading for free online for people to read as a side project for me, just doing for fun in my spare time! And now it’s a worldwide successful TV show. It’s just impossible to even imagine that that could happen way back at the start. So I mean, it’s been amazing. It’s so wonderful. I just love Heartstopper so much. I just love these characters and to feel that love from so many people is just so special. So I’m so grateful for all of it.
We are so grateful that you don’t throw in created spoilers for them. You just let the romance happen, and you just let us soak in these love stories. And now we’re in Season 3, there’s all of these different kinds of love stories, and it’s so nice to just have characters to be happy for. What made you stay firm on not messing with these people’s hearts?
Oseman: [Laughs] I think that those tropes are so easy to put into the story. You’ve got two characters who are in love, and it’s very easy to bring in another romantic interest to create some drama, or there’s some misunderstanding. Someone mishears something, and that causes some drama. It is very easy to put that into a story, but I knew that I wanted that conflict to not be present in Heartstopper. The conflict comes from something slightly maybe more universal and relatable, just teenagers figuring out what a relationship is and getting to know each other better. And there are problems that they face. There’s bullying, there’s homophobia, and there’s mental health issues…that’s the conflict that they have to face. It’s all sorts of stuff that’s not related to the romance. The romance is the strength and the power that sees them through those darker times.
You’re modeling, especially for young people, how to actually love someone through those life challenges. The way that Nick handles Charlie’s time in treatment and how the friends deal with it, that’s how you love someone. Do you have a romance or a couple in the stories so far that you either wish you could have dinner with or that you just root for, one that you loved putting together?
Oseman: Oh, that’s kind of an impossible question! [Laughs] I love them all so much. I mean, Nick and Charlie are so special to me because they are such long-standing characters of mine. They’ve existed in my head for going on 12, 13 years now. They’re so precious to me. But I’ve also fallen so in love with Tao (William Gao) and Elle (Yasmin Finney), particularly over the TV show.
Obsessed with Elle!
Oseman: Yeah, I love them so much. And in the comics, there’s just not really room to really show all those moments of their romance. But in the TV show, there is room for that. In getting to write the TV show, I’ve been able to see them have their Heartstopper romance in the way that I couldn’t when I was making the comics and that’s been really magical.
Yasmin Finney and William Gao in ‘Heartstopper’ Season 3. (Netflix)
Did you have things that had to be cut from the comic versions that you were able to add to the show?
Oseman: Yeah, there’s so many things that I just don’t have the room for in the comics. And so Isaac (Tobie Donovan), for example, I’ve never really been able to put an asexual story into Heartstopper, and there’s a little bit of one now in Vol. 5. But until then, there just hasn’t been the room for it. But in the show, I could put in this new character, this completely new character Isaac, and I knew as soon as I created Isaac, that was what his journey was going to be. And that’s what we would see in the show, which I think has added so much to Heartstopper in just allowing so many more people to see themselves in the story.
Another lovely thing about the world you have created is that nothing is inaccessible or beyond the realm of normal life. They celebrate a birthday and it’s a normal teenager’s birthday celebration. Their house parties are like high school house parties. Is the set as joyful as the stories you’re telling?
Oseman: Yeah, I hope so. I mean, I know that being on set is tough. It is a really exhausting experience for everyone in the cast and crew. But I think what the cast have is that comaraderie. And even when it is tough, they have each other to lean on. They’re cracking jokes, they’ve got each other to talk to, they’re laughing, they have each other to lean on through all of it. They find the joy even during stressful time of filming. I think they all find the joy just by being with each other.
Joe and Kit, especially this season, have some heavy lifting to do, and they are incredible. You take them to places that are very important to be explored, on both physical and emotional levels. How has their off-camera friendship added to the connection that we see onscreen between Charlie and Nick?
Oseman: Their friendship is so important and helpful for them as actors. I think Nick and Charlie have been on such a journey as characters, but so have Kit and Joe as friends. And now that they are having to do some really difficult scenes, I think it must be a comfort to be able to work with someone you’ve known for so long, who you are close to as a friend. If you mess up, it doesn’t matter. You can just laugh about it with your friend. So yeah, it is nice to know that they have that sort of trust in each other in the trickier scenes.
How did you feel about getting them to that portion from Vol. 5? The way it plays out is so, so beautiful, and not just the lead-up, but the intimacy afterwards. Was that scary for you to actually have to translate that?
Oseman: Oh, definitely. It is a tricky topic to figure out how to portray in a way that feels true to what Heartstopper is. I always knew that I wanted the story to explore sex eventually, and it feels like the right moment for Nick and Charlie as characters. The approach I took to that storyline was exploring the emotional side of it, the very teenage-ry questions of like, “Am I ready to do this? I don’t really know what I’m doing,” and “Is my partner ready to do this?,” “What if it’s terrible and awkward, and I don’t know what I’m doing?” Those are the questions that Nick and Charlie really are facing. And Tao and Elle, as well, in this story.
You bring in Hayley Atwell and Jonathan Bailey as characters who represent the adults we all hoped we’d know. They’re not dismissive of young people or young love, which we’ve seen so many times before. They’re actually encouraging the kids to have love in their lives.
Oseman: Yeah, we need stories that do that. I think we need all kinds of stories, but what Heartstopper does is it says things are going to be okay, things are going to work out, there’s hope, there’s joy. Even through those darker moments and the tough times, it is going to be all right in the end. So I mean, that’s kind of what Heartstopper is all about.
Is there anything that you can’t wait to write for Charlie and Nick?
Oseman: Oh, I can’t wait to write…well, I’m working on Vol. 6, which is the final volume of Heartstopper. So I think what I can’t wait to write is the end of Heartstopper. It’s a very bittersweet feeling. Obviously, I’m really sad that I’m going to be saying goodbye to the characters, but I’m so excited to just give them a really beautiful ending.
Heartstopper, Season 3, Streaming Now, Netflix
