Heartstopper season three is coming later this year, and the show has revealed some major new names have joined the cast.
The hit Netflix series is a coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama focusing on the friendships and relationships of secondary school students at the fictional Truham Grammar School.
The third season is due to hit the streaming service with eight new episodes in October, and they have announced that joining the existing cast will be Eddie Marsan, Hayley Atwell and Jonathan Bailey.
Marsan is known for his roles in Ray Donovan and Happy-Go-Lucky, and recently played Mitch Winehouse in Back To Black, while Atwell played Agent Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bailey, meanwhile, gained attention for playing Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton in the Netflix series Bridgerton.
Heartstopper creator and writer Alice Oseman has said: “Hayley Atwell joins 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. Eddie Marsan will be portraying a beloved character from the graphic novels: Geoff, Charlie’s wise and straight-talking therapist. And lastly, Jonathan Bailey will be making a cameo appearance as Jack Maddox, an Instagram-famous classicist and celebrity crush of Charlie.”
“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”
It was in May last year that Netflix first officially announced the show had been renewed for two additional seasons.
In a four-star review of season two, NME wrote: “[Alice] Oseman conceived Heartstopper as a positive queer story to reassure kids that everything would be OK, so anything with the potential for drama tends to be immediately resolved by the characters having an emotionally-literate conversation, which can feel like watching an action film where the hero finds a bomb and, well, defuses it by cutting the correct wire straight away, with no tense music or drop of sweat expended.”
“It’s the kind of show you know will make people feel less alone; pure bottled joy and a restorative tonic in these turbulent times.”
It was later named one of NME’s Best TV Shows of 2023.
In January, Buckinghamshire Council was criticised after a closed and “inadequate” school was used as a filming location for the show.
The Council was reportedly paid £434,494 for the use of Burnham Park Academy near Slough, which had previously been closed by Osted, leaving some “astonished” that they could make so much money from an institution that left a community “neglected”.
