Netflix’s Gay Teen Rom-Com ‘Heartstopper’ Casts Its Leads – Instinct Magazine
We now know the two leads for Netflix’s upcoming series Heartstopper.
Based on the popular webcomic turned graphic novel series by Alice Oserman called Heartstopper, the Netflix series follows a similar story. Two British teens named Nick and Charlie go to an all-boys grammar school. Charlie is a worry-wart and an outcast due to being openly gay. Meanwhile, Nick is cheerful and a rugby player. When the two are forced to sit together and spend time in the same space, they become fast friends. But as their relationship becomes more intimate, their relationship leads to new feelings, realizations, friendships, and world views.
Back in 2019, Alice Oserman announced a tv adaption of the show was in development. Then in January of this year, Netflix bought distribution rights to the show. The streaming service also announced an open call for the show’s characters. And now, it seems the show has found its two leads.
Oserman recently shared the news through an Instagram post.
“Introducing Kit Connor and Joe Locke as Heartstopper’s Nick and Charlie!!!!” she wrote in her caption the post. Along with her text is the picture of Connor and Locke with a cloudy sky hanging above them.
“I am so SO hyped to show you this photo of them in costume on set,” she added. “Finding our Nick and Charlie was no easy task and I was VERY nervous about the search. These characters have been with me since 2012 (over a third of my life!!), and many of you since 2014 — they’re deeply important to me, and I know they are to many of you too. I knew that we had to find the perfect teen actors to play them or the show would fall apart. But we found them!! We really really did!!”
Joe Locke is a newcomer to acting with this series being his first major job. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Kit Connor has been acting since he was 8 and has appeared in His Dark Materials and Rocketman.
Alice Oserman then continued, “Kit and Joe are just amazing, literally so talented and sweet and funny and utterly Nick and Charlie in so many ways, and it has been so much fun getting to know them and welcoming them into the Heartstopper universe. I feel very lucky that they’re playing these characters who are so precious to me and many of you, and I hope you fall in love with them as Nick and Charlie as much as I have done!!”
The Heartstopper series is still in pre-production with no word on who else will fill out the very queer cast of characters, when the production will begin, and when the show will air on Netflix. We’ll keep you updated with more information as the series develops.