Beloved TV show Heartstopper has finally returned with its highly-anticipated third season, following the incredibly tender love story that blossomed between sweet Charlie and rugby jock Nick. The Netflix series is adapted from a series of graphic novels authored by Alice Oseman who, in an exclusive interview with GCN, shared some insight into the new episodes.

While the series is primarily intended for a younger audience, Heartstopper has managed to gather queer fans of all ages because of its focus on joy and positive representation. Speaking about the widespread success of the series, Alice Oseman said, “It actually really surprised me to see how many older viewers and readers Heartstopper has gained over the years. I never really imagined that it would appeal to such a wide age range. I’m just glad to hear that they found something that they enjoyed in it.”

“My only intention when I started Heartstopper was just that I had these two characters, Nick and Charlie, and I wanted to tell their story somehow. And when I started making Heartstopper, I was only 21, so I had very recently been a teenager myself.”

Since then, Alice Oseman has grown in her career, becoming the creator of the show and being involved in every step of the writing process. During the production of the new episodes, she was also able to try her hand at something new. “In Season 3, I got to do a tiny bit of directing for the first time ever. I’d obviously never done anything like that before, and it was just a few very, very tiny scenes I got to have a go at.

“I was so nervous about it, because when you’re director, you’re really in the spotlight. You’re in charge of everyone,” she continued.

“And I was really nervous about doing that, but I had so much fun with it. I did a lot of scenes just with Kit on his own. We did a lot of the really tiny shots that weren’t big scenes because that would have been way too scary for me. Yeah, it was just really fun to get to try that out.”

 

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Sharing some insight into what it’s like to work with such an amazing cast of actors, Alice Oseman said: “I’m a sort of parental/aunt figure, you know? Me and the other set producers. We’re here for them if they ever need any advice or support, or help. They’re able to reach out to us, and we can offer that.”

“They’re all really good friends who’ve gone through the same kind of experience,” the author continued. “It’s really lovely to see how they’ve all gone in such different directions, doing such different amazing things outside, of which we’re all very proud.”

One of the latest additions to the cast is Irish-Jamaican actor Darragh Hand, who joined the series for its third season. “Darragh is playing Michael Holden, who is one of my first-ever characters that I ever wrote in a book called Solitaire, where he and Tori Spring are the main characters,” Alice Oseman told GCN.

“Michael is a really important character in the history of my books, and I was really, really excited to introduce him as a character,” she continued. “Darragh obviously did the most amazing audition. He did a chemistry read with Jenny, who plays Tori, where they were just so at ease with each other, and it was so funny, and you just really loved them as a pairing together.

“And Michael’s a very odd, quirky sort of character, and Darragh just plays that so perfectly. I’m so excited for everyone to see him.”

While the TV show is a very faithful adaptation of the graphic novels, the different medium has allowed the creator to explore elements that she didn’t have space for in the books. When asked which of these new elements she feels particularly attached to, she said: “Firstly, Isaac as a character. I think it’s really wonderful to get to write about an aromantic, asexual character in Heartstopper.”

The author, who herself identifies as aromantic and asexual, continued by saying: “There just wasn’t really room to explore that in the comics, because the comics are quite short in comparison. I absolutely love Isaac, and I love getting to show that experience on screen.”

Speaking about another storyline involving a Black trans character, Elle, she said: “I also really love Tao and Elle’s story. In the comics, you don’t really get to delve into their romance very much at all. There’s just not really room for it. But in the show, we really get to go on that journey of them falling in love and that whole romantic arc with them.”

These storylines follow positive and uplifting narrative arcs, as is in the spirit of the series as a whole. However, both the graphic novels and the Netflix show deal with heavy topics, such as mental health issues, bullying, eating disorders and more. “It’s quite a challenge, to be honest, to delve into those dark issues without making it too dark or too scary and triggering for people,” the author shared.

“You want to show experiences like mental illness in a realistic way. You want it to feel really truthful and authentic, but you don’t want it to show so much that it becomes harmful for people who have experienced those issues,” she added. “And that was a challenge when I was writing the graphic novels, and it was a challenge again when I was writing the show.

“But with the show, we worked with an eating disorder charity called Beat. They read the scripts before we started filming, and they offered some really helpful advice about which moments were working really well and which moments might be harmful for people who’ve experienced eating disorders. It was really reassuring to have them helping us.”

The new season is full of new exploration, incredible queer representation and all the heartwarming moments of teenage joy the show has become famous for. And if the series wasn’t already queer enough, there’s a surprise coming: “One thing that I was really excited about was getting to write Halloween. That’s not in the comics. So I was like, ‘Yes, I’m gonna put Halloween’.”

Speaking about the future of the Heartstopper universe, Alice Oseman said: “I’m currently working on the last volume of the comics, Volume 6. And that will be the last volume, which is very sad, but I am very excited about the story.

“As for the show, don’t know yet. But there is obviously more story in the comics, there’s more that could be adapted. So we just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope everyone enjoys Season 3 in the meantime,” the creator said. “I’ve had this amazing experience with Heartstopper. It’s gone so so well in so many ways.”

Season 3 of Heartstopper is out from today, October 3, on Netflix. Watch all new episodes here.