‘Heartstopper’ Writer Gives Season 3 Update During SAG, WGA Strikes


Joe Locke and Equipment Connor.
Teddy Cavendish/Netflix

As the continuing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes drive many TV exhibits to press pause, season 3 of Netflix’s Heartstopper is seemingly nonetheless in growth.

Creator Alice Oseman — who additionally wrote the graphic novels that impressed the present — provided a standing replace forward of the August premiere of season 2.

“The Heartstopper Quantity 5 publication date is transferring to December seventh (UK/Ire/Aus/NZ) and December nineteenth (US)! The e-book is popping out longer than I anticipated, and I’m additionally exhausting at work this summer time writing the scripts for season 3 of the Heartstopper TV present, so I realised I wanted some further time to complete drawing the e-book,” Oseman, 28, wrote by way of Instagram on Wednesday, July 19. “I’m so sorry that you need to wait a bit longer however I promise it’ll be price it! Thanks for supporting the sequence!”

Whereas Oseman seems to be exhausting at work on new episodes, a number of showrunners have been taking a break to indicate solitary with leisure unions. In Could, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) introduced their choice to strike after a labor dispute with the Alliance of Movement Image and Tv Producers. (The AMPTP represents main corporations similar to Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Common, Paramount and Sony.)

Some TV exhibits — together with Netflix’s Outer Banks — initially continued manufacturing with scripts which had been presumably completed earlier than the picket strains started. Earlier this month, nevertheless, SAG-AFTRA introduced its personal strike, leaving Hollywood at a standstill.

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Why Heartstopper Season 3 Is Presumably Still Being Written by Alice Oseman Amid WGA and SAG Strike 403

Will Gao and Yasmin Finney.
Netflix / See-Noticed

On account of union laws, actors who’re a part of SAG-AFTRA are restricted from filming new theatrical content material in the course of the strike. Nevertheless, tasks similar to HBO’s Home of the Dragon and Max’s Dune: The Sisterhood — which movie within the U.Okay. and make use of primarily U.Okay. actors — have been the exception to the rule. As a substitute of SAG-AFTRA, stars of the exhibits comply with Fairness tips and are prohibited from occurring strike.

Heartstopper, in the meantime, is produced by British-Australian movie and tv manufacturing firm See-Noticed Movies. The includes a crop of U.Okay. stars, together with Equipment Connor, Joe Locke, William Gao, Yasmin Finney, Corinna Brown, Kizzy Edgell, Tobie Donovan, Rhea Norwood, Jenny Walser and Sebastian Croft.

Why Heartstopper Season 3 Is Presumably Still Being Written by Alice Oseman Amid WGA and SAG Strike 402

Rhea Norwood as Imogen.
Teddy Cavendish/Netflix

The TV adaptation, which premiered in April 2022, focuses on highschool athlete Nick (Connor) as he begins to query his sexuality after creating a friendship with fellow scholar Charlie (Locke).

Oseman beforehand mirrored on the significance of conserving the present lighthearted when it got here to the LGBTQ illustration.

“There’s loads on TV now that has queer content material, but it surely’s undoubtedly for adults. Lots of queer tales are nonetheless very severe or centered on trauma,” the screenwriter instructed Netflix’s Tudum in April 2022, earlier than addressing the present’s completely satisfied moments. “I at all times suppose a trope is a trope for a cause. Tropes can really feel overused. However when it’s that includes marginalized characters, you most likely haven’t seen that as a lot as you suppose you could have.”

Season 2 of Heartstopper is about to premiere August 3 on Netflix.