Heartstopper Season 2 is such a cozy blanket of a YA series, you’ll find yourself fully enveloped in Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick’s (Kit Connor) world for a few hours. But, when you see one of its magical doodles flitter across the screen, you may remember Heartstopper isn’t just a TV show — it was initially a series of comics written and illustrated by Alice Oseman, now published as full graphic novels by HarperCollins in the UK and Scholastic in the US.
Although we’ve now entered Season 2 of Charlie and Nick’s romance, the latest episodes are actually largely inspired by Volume 3 of the graphic novel series. As Heartstopper’s protagonists mature, so do the storylines. We even see the teens leave the embrace of suburban England for the bustling streets of Paris, which is the central plotline in Volume 3. This life-changing trip inspires characters like Charlie, Nick, and their friends to be more vulnerable than ever about their struggles.
“People often talk about Heartstopper like it’s this perfectly flawless, adorable, wholesome romance, but actually it does show a lot of real issues and struggles that the characters are dealing with,” Oseman, who also created and executive produces Heartstopper the show, told Tudum. “The point, for me, is to try and show those while also reassuring everyone that despite all of these things that you might be going through, you can still find love and find friendship and find joy. That’s what Heartstopper is all about.”
To achieve that goal, Oseman leaned into the most exciting parts of Volume 3, while also expanding certain characters’ journeys. Keep reading to find out how.
Many! Oseman was most excited to see the Volume 3 Paris excursion come to life. The episodes follow the students of Truham and Higgs on a sunny school trip to the City of Light. “We made it work, we managed to get everything we needed to, and it was a really magical experience for everyone,” Oseman said.
There were two panels Oseman couldn’t wait to re-create for Season 2. One depicts Nick and Charlie in a museum, surrounded by imposing, huge statues inspired by ancient mythology and divinities. “We were able to film in there, amazingly, and it’s such a beautiful room,” Oseman said. “Nick and Charlie just look so tiny in this giant room with all these giant statues. It’s really, really beautiful.”
🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐
Oseman’s other personal favorite book-to-screen moment is Elle (Yasmin Finney) and Tao’s (William Gao) first kiss in Paris. “They have it in front of this big arch window,” they explained. “That [takes place in] exactly the room that I drew in the comics.” Oseman visited Paris while drawing Volume 3 and took a photo in that precise location, with its iconic Parisian view. “I thought, ‘That’s a really lovely place for their first kiss,’” they said with a smile.
Oseman made one big change when adapting Volume 3 into Heartstopper Season 2: the timing of Nick and Charlie’s most impactful heart-to-heart yet. Charlie reveals during the conversation that the homophobic bullying he previously experienced caused a mental health crisis involving self-harm. In the graphic novels, the couple has their moving discussion before even going to Paris; in the series, it’s the final scene of Season 2. It arrives after Paris, one tense family dinner, and prom.
“We felt like it needed to be later, because we wanted to show the journey of Charlie slowly feeling like he can open up to Nick about this really serious thing that has happened to him,” Oseman said.
In the series, Nick spends all of Season 2 starting to “realize there is something that Charlie just doesn’t want to talk about.” Yet, after eight episodes of Charlie connecting deeply with his boyfriend, they get to a place where radical honesty feels safe. While Heartstopper scenes are usually very quick, Oseman allowed the discussion to go longer than usual. “It gives Charlie the time to feel like he can finally share,” they added.
By really digging into its supporting characters. While fan-favorite characters including Elle, Tao, Isaac (Tobie Donovan), Tara (Corinna Brown), and Darcy (Kizzy Edgell) are all represented in the comics, the series gives Oseman so much more time and space to explore their perspectives and relationships (both platonic and romantic).
For example, Oseman said, “Tao and Elle’s romance is a huge part of this season… I got to show it in the show in so much more detail. There’s so much more buildup to things that happen in Paris.”
Tara and Darcy’s romance also benefited from the extra space of the series. “In the comics, especially, Tara and Darcy are the perfect couple. They’re together, they’re solid, they don’t really have any issues,” Oseman said. That’s not the case, however, in Season 2. Oseman wanted to give the characters some more depth and poke around their relationship. “Because things aren’t always perfect,” they said.
In the final episode of the season, we learn Darcy isn’t out to her family and her mother is homophobic. She’s been hiding these details from Tara, and is afraid to say “I love you” to her girlfriend.
“I wanted to show that they’ve got their own issues to deal with,” Oseman said. “But, of course, it’s Heartstopper. So they’re going to be OK. They just need to go on that journey, learn more about each other, talk to each other, and communicate.”
That’s the big question after the finale. Both boys almost say those three little words, but are disrupted by either a parental figure or a perfectly placed cut to black. In the comic, Charlie thinks he’s going to tell Nick he loves him a few times, but decides not to go through with it. “But the actual cliff-hanger at the end of Season 2 is not something that is in the comics,” Oseman confirmed.
Although Oseman said comic fans may have an inkling of when the “I love you” bombshell will drop, they don’t want to spoil all the fun of Heartstopper’s future. “We know that Charlie loves Nick. I think we know that Nick loves Charlie as well. It’s just about when and how they’re going to say that to each other,” they said.
Find out when (and if!) the L-word will be deployed in Heartstopper’s already confirmed Season 3.
