By David T. Valentin
The famous webcomic series by Alice Oseman, which originally started off as a small comic web series, has sprawled out into various other online sites, to the print page and finally to the TV screen on Netflix.
Heartstopper follows the story of main characters Charlie Spring and Nicholas Nelson as their unlikely new friendship between a high school nerd and jock turns into a flirty romance that will make you blush, smile, and sometimes cry at every panel. Along the way, we meet Charlie’s quirky, angsty sister, Charlie’s adorable brother, Nick’s loving mother and a whole group of equally adorable friends from all walks of life.
What captivates readers is the feel-good vibes the comics bring people. While tackling things like homophobia, mental illness, eating disorders and so many other things teens go through during high school, the stories always provide some way out or a happy ending, even if it’s not the one you’re expecting. Pair that with a simple but imaginative art style and suddenly you have 52.1 million views and counting between multiple online platforms, and that’s not even counting the print copies of the comics and the tie-in novels.
As our main leads we have Joe Locke making his acting debut as Charlie Spring and Kit Connor, mostly known for his role in Ready Player One, as Nick Nelson. Along with our debuting actor Joe Locke, all of Charlie’s friends are being played by newcomers as well.
Business Insider writes, “William Gao plays Tao, Charlie’s best friend; trans actress Yasmin Finney plays Elle, a trans girl who used to attend the all-boys school; Kizzy Edgell makes their screen debut as Darcy; and Corinna Brown plays Tara, Darcy and Elle’ s friend from the all-girls school.”
For the first season of Heartstopper, there are eight episodes each of them being 30 minutes long. And for all you binge watchers out there, you’ll be happy to know Netflix released all eight episodes at once, so you can see Nick and Charlie’s relationship blossom as quickly or as slowly as you might like.
Once you’re done binging the first season, you can head over to Alice Oseman’s website here to find out where you can read more of Nick and Charlie’s adventures to prepare for Season Two and hopefully many more seasons to come.