Brace yourselves Heartstopper fans, because your excitement for season three is about to get even bigger.
As viewers eagerly await the return of the hit teen drama this autumn, Netflix just dropped some huge casting news to help tide us over in the meantime.
Along with the return of Nick (Kit Connor) Charlie (Joe Locke) and the gang, Bridgerton heartthrob Jonathan Bailey is set to make a cameo as an Instagram-famous classicist, and celebrity crush of Charlie’s called Jack Maddox.
The news was announced in a video teaser that even shows Jonathan delivering his best breathy Heartstopper “hi!”.
And that’s not the only exciting news.
Hayley Atwell (Mission: Impossible, Agent Carter) will be joining the Nelson family as Nick’s Aunt Diane, who takes Nick on a summer holiday to Menorca and “has some tough advice to impart about his relationship”, as shared by creator Alice Oseman in a statement (per Deadline).
Meanwhile, Eddie Marsan (Black To Black, The Gentlemen) will be portraying a “beloved character” from the graphic novels called Geoff, who is Charlie’s “wise and straight-talking therapist”.
“It was an absolute joy to see Hayley, Eddie, and Jonathan’s talent alongside our existing cast, and I can’t wait for the Heartstopper fans to meet these new characters,” said Alice.
The fresh casting announcement comes as welcome news after Olivia Colman revealed that she would not be returning for the new season, admitting that she “felt awful” about being unable to squeeze it in her busy filming schedule.
Heartstopper returns with eight episodes in October 2024, and so far we know that the plot is about to get “darker” and “raunchier”.
“It’s still Heartstopper,” said Joe while speaking on the Today show recently. “But it’s also that we deal with some darker issues.
“Charlie, my character – he deals with some quite severe mental health issues, which we tackle in this season, which I’m very excited for people to see.”
You can check out everything we know about the upcoming series so far here.