How ‘Heartstopper’ Sets Up a Season 3

Nick’s New Normal After ‘Heartstopper’ Season 2

With his mother Sarah (Olivia Colman) and Charlie in his corner, and after a disastrous dinner with his brother and estranged father where Nick blurted out the truth, Nick posted a photo of him and Charlie on his Instagram in the Season 2 finale and confirmed their relationship status. Now, as we head into the next season, he is officially out and his romance with Charlie need no longer be a secret. It’s quite a shift as the first two seasons have detailed the struggles of being together while one party is in the closet and the strain that can put on a relationship (even when both parties are completely supportive of the other). However, Nick will likely have to face the darker side of being out, too, as already those around him have constantly invalidated his bisexuality.

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Charlie’s Eating Disorder Is Likely to Have a Much Bigger Role in ‘Heartstopper’ Season 3

Unfortunately, the events of the season, including the hardships and heartaches of a secret relationship, awakened something in Charlie that had been born during the term at school when he was outed and constantly bullied. As Charlie explains in his conversation with Nick in Heartstopper Season 2 after Nick mentions Charlie’s eating habits, the eating disorder formed as Charlie’s way to control something in his life when everything was spinning out around him. Despite things improving for Charlie and Nick in the final episodes, Sarah pointed out after their dinner party that Charlie had hardly touched his food, leading Nick to search for information about eating disorders online. Pair this with the conversation that the boys had in the season finale about Charlie’s experience with self-harm, and it’s clear that Charlie’s rough road is far from over.

Darcy’s Horrible Home Life

Likewise, the episodes build to the revelation that Darcy’s life at home is not at all what we could’ve expected. In the penultimate episode of Season 2, the rainbow gang prepares for prom. Darcy finds a suit that perfectly complements Tara’s dress, so the gang pitches in so Darcy can afford to buy it. After her mother rudely demands she return home while at Elle’s art exhibition, Darcy is trying on her suit when her mother walks in and the two get into a screaming match. Her mother commands her to take it off, disparaging how she looks with homophobic and otherwise brutal comments before Darcy storms out of the house with her things. Later, she’s late for prom after spending the night in the park but is thankfully able to talk with Tara about what’s going on at Nick’s after-prom party. She confesses that she’s not as confident as she has always tried to be, and she’s not even out as a lesbian to her deeply homophobic parents. It’s unclear what exactly awaits in Darcy’s future and whether she’ll return home or not, especially given her mother’s distant and uncaring reaction when Tara showed up to try to find Darcy. Whatever the case, there’s a lot left to explore here, even if it’s just Darcy accepting that her family might not include her parents.

Isaac’s Exploration of His Identity

In Heartstopper Season 2, Isaac has a much bigger role. At first, it seems he has some romance brewing with fellow classmate James (Bradley Riches), but after the two kiss, there are no sparks for Isaac. Everyone tries to tell him that maybe he just hasn’t met the right person yet, but it’s not until he attends Elle’s art exhibition that Isaac realizes he might not be so alone. He’s taken with a particular piece, and the artist explains that it represents the freedom they felt after they accepted their asexual and aromantic identity and stopped conforming to society’s prioritization of love and sex above all else. Inspired, Isaac later grabs a book about asexuality from the Pride section in the school’s library while at prom. While it’s obvious what path Isaac is on, there’s surely more to this story to come as Isaac has yet to fully accept himself — at least that we’ve seen — and we can’t wait to see more of this story that is rarely explored in the media.

Elle’s Changing Schools in ‘Heartstopper’ Season 3

One of the more shocking aspects of the season comes at the end of the season, which is the revelation that Elle will be leaving Higgs to attend the Lambert School of Art (where the art exhibition is held). This is a major point of potential conflict between Elle and Tao in the final episodes, as Tao is deeply afraid of abandonment after losing his father at such a young age. Now that their relationship has progressed from friendship to romance, there’s also the added layer of his girlfriend moving away. While we already love Elle’s new friends at Lambert, it’s definitely going to be an adjustment to see her away from everyone. Can she and Tao make a long-distance relationship work, especially so soon after they’ve made things official?

Every episode of Heartstopper is now streaming on Netflix.