Who's ready for more gay love stories? Heartstopper is promising to give us all the feels as it enters production over at Netflix.
Based on the graphic novels by author and illustrator Alice Oseman, Netflix picked up the series as an eight-part, live-action adaptation. The adorable comic dives into topics like "love, friendship, loyalty, life, time, and mental illness" and "explores, among other things, the blossoming relationship between Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring, two boys at a British all-boys grammar school." The TV series is expected to align pretty closely with the original novels, but up until now, we had no clue as to who was going to be starring in the live-action Heartstopper...
But Oseman just shared the announcement on Instagram that the show has finally found its two main leads!
"Introducing Kit Connor and Joe Locke as Heartstopper’s Nick and Charlie!!!!" she wrote in her caption of the announcement.
"I am so SO hyped to show you this photo of them in costume on set," she continued. "Finding our Nick and Charlie was no easy task and I was VERY nervous about the search. These characters have been with me since 2012 (over a third of my life!!), and many of you since 2014 — they’re deeply important to me, and I know they are to many of you too. I knew that we had to find the perfect teen actors to play them or the show would fall apart. But we found them!! We really really did!! Kit and Joe are just amazing, literally so talented and sweet and funny and utterly Nick and Charlie in so many ways, and it has been so much fun getting to know them and welcoming them into the Heartstopper universe. I feel very lucky that they’re playing these characters who are so precious to me and many of you, and I hope you fall in love with them as Nick and Charlie as much as I have done!!"
While much isn't known about Locke and his acting experience, Connor has appeared in His Dark Materials and Rocketman at just 17-years-old, having begun acting at just 8.
Netflix is thrilled to bring the series to life. "This is a story that deserves to be told," the streaming giant said in a statement. "Beyond anything else I have worked on in my career, the feeling regarding Heartstopper was that there was no way we could not make it."
Heartstopper is expected to begin filming this year.
