Fans are more excited than ever for the new season of Heartstopper to finally arrive on Netflix – not just because it’s been over a year since we last caught up with Nick and Charlie’s flourishing relationship, but because of all the well-documented new territory the show is heading into this time around.
Back in August, HuffPost UK spoke to the show’s leads Joe Locke and Kit Connor about what to expect from the new season, and how they found filming the new episodes.
Along the way, they shared stories about chest waxing, missing Olivia Colman, sharing the screen with Bridgerton dreamboat Jonathan Bailey and a very different A-list cameo that could be on the cards in a future season.
Intrigued? Here are nine things we learned when we met the stars of Heartstopper…
First of all – let’s just get this out of the way, yes, season three includes Heartstopper’s first sex scenes
“We had been making jokes since season two – but I think they’re definitely ready for it by the end of the show,” Joe said of the characters taking their relationship to the next level. “But I think it’s handled in a very Heartstopper way which is really nice.”
Kit recalled: “We did about seven hours straight of just shagging, so it was pretty fun.”
Joe’s response? “Glad you enjoyed it, babe!”
Brilliant.
The show also incorporated the work of an intimacy co-ordinator for the first time, to help with Kit and Joe’s love scenes
“David Thackeray our intimacy co-ordiator is just a brilliant, brilliant man and very good at his job,” Joe said. “He kind of worked us through it and helped us a lot.
“We felt comfortable anyway, because we know each other so well, but he made it feel comfortable being in a room with other people – as few people as possible, but still people – and trying to make it look good for the camera.”
Outside of the sex scenes, season three also required a great deal of partial nudity from Joe Locke
“I’m shirtless for a good portion of the season,” Kit revealed, insisting: “It was a part of the story, it was a part of the dynamic between Nick and Charlie that Nick felt comfortable and confident in himself, and that was part of the storyline and arc and dynamic of our two characters.”
On one beach scene early on in the season, Kit admitted: “I don’t know how many people [were] sat on the beach just watching us, and I did feel a little bit like, ‘ah, OK, this is interesting’. But as soon as they called cut, I could throw something on and it was fine. It could be worse.”
And that wasn’t the only downside of Joe Locke’s shirtless scenes in the new season of Heartstopper
“I had to wax my chest every two weeks, which wasn’t particularly funny,” Kit revealed.
“It was fun for us to watch…” Joe then quipped.
Filming that beach scene wasn’t quite as summery as the cast made it out to be
“We have a knack on this show of filming summer scenes when it’s not summer and having to pretend we’re all really warm when we’re actually freezing,” Joe told us, with Kit agreeing that filming his scenes in the sea was a “very cold” experience, despite how it might come across on scene.
Olivia Colman’s absence was definitely felt this time around
“It’s Olivia Colman, you want her to be a part of everything you do, when I’m making my breakfast in the morning I wish that she was there,” Kit joked. “She’s a great loss whenever she’s not there.”
He continued: “But it was quite funny as well. Throughout the shoot, we would do improv scenes, and sometimes I would look at the camera and be like, ’where is my mum?’.”
Kit was also quick to heap praise on Hayley Atwell, who joins Heartstopper’s latest season as Nick’s aunt.
“To have Hayley Atwell this season was also a real, real joy and pleasure,” he said, praising the Mission: Impossible star for doing “a wonderful job” and “filling those shoes”.
Filming with Jonathan Bailey was apparently every bit as fun as you’d hope
“It was quite a special day, having Johnny on set,” Kit said of the Bridgerton star’s cameo. “I think we were all a little bit nervous for that day to come –it was my first time meeting him. He is just lovely [and] yeah, he’s a beautiful, beautiful man.”
Joe added: “I met Johnny a few years ago, and from the first time I met him he was talking about how he wanted to be in the show. They’d been trying to work it out behind the scenes for a long time, so it was good that they managed to fit him in.”
It sounds like another cameo could be on the horizon in a future season, too
Asked to name anyone they’d like to join the cast, Kit said that “legend” Sir Ian McKellen “would be iconic”.
“Am I wrong in saying that there was a point where they were kind of hoping to try and get him?” he asked his co-star. “But he’s a busy man. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they did [ask him], because he’s a legend.”
It sounds like Kit and Joe are well and truly in the swing of filming Heartstopper now, after the show’s meteoric rise
“Season three was a lot easier to come back to than season two,” Joe admitted. “I think for season two, we came back with so much pressure, [after] the success of season one. Whereas season three was like, ‘OK, we’ve done this twice now, let’s just have fun with it and enjoy it’.”
Kit agreed: “I think it just allowed us to come back and do the show but even better hopefully.”
Heartstopper season 3 will be available to stream on Netflix from Thursday 3 October. Watch the trailer for the new season below: