Heartstopper Forever Will Focus on Nick & Charlie, But Alice Oseman Made Sure ‘Everyone Has Their Goodbye’

“There is a lot of discourse about there being sex or there not being sex in Heartstopper, people can’t seem to make up their minds—which one is it?—but something that I’ve definitely learned while writing is that you have to tell the story you want to tell, and particularly when something gets as big as Heartstopper, you can’t please everyone,” Oseman says. “There’s always going to be people who are not content with the direction you’ve taken a story.”

After all, Nick and Charlie and the rest of their friends are getting older and embarking on new adventures, just as their viewers and readers are too.

“Every time we’ve come back to the Heartstopper show and film, we’ve tried to age it up a little bit because we wanted to feel like the show is growing up alongside these characters and the audience,” Oseman says. “Nick and Charlie are almost adults, they’re pretty much on the cusp of adulthood, and we know that sex is a part of their relationship, and so it felt like a really natural thing to put in the film, and it’s the same in the books as well.”

So how will Oseman feel when all is said and done? “I don’t know, I really don’t know,” she says. “Right now it’s very bittersweet, like I’m really sad to be saying goodbye to these characters and I’m going to miss them so much. It’s really emotional to be ending these stories, but also that’s all wrapped up in the feeling of pride and happiness that I got to finish this story in the way that I wanted to … I think that crash will come, but it’s not quite yet.”

There’s still so much to look back on with fondness. Heartstopper truthers will remember the iconic Nick and Charlie kissing in the rain scene from season 1, which was Locke and Connor’s first kiss scene in filming order. “It was such a romantic, beautiful moment that it just had everyone in tears,” Oseman says. “I remember us all crowding around the monitor, tearing up, watching this happen. That was the moment where we were also like, ‘this show is going to be really good’.”

The author and creator also recalls filming the Truman-Higgs sports day from the season 1 finale. “It felt like a real sports day, we were near the end of the shoot, and everyone was together,” she says. “For some reason, we had loads of family visiting that day, a lot of the actors brought their family in, and everyone just was in such a good mood, and the weather was amazing. We had so many people on that field, it just felt like such a celebratory moment, such a big moment for all of us to step back and be like, wow, we’ve done it, like we’ve made this show against all odds.”