Heartstopper Forever welcomes you back to Truham Grammar School: It’s Nick’s (Kit Connor) final year before uni, and Charlie (Joe Locke) is starting to pave his own path at school — even running for head boy. Watch Charlie’s impassioned speech about overcoming years of bullying and homophobia in the first three minutes of Alice Oseman’s finale film, only on Tudum.
Seeing Charlie come into his own onstage, you just might want to join in on the raucous applause. But will Charlie make head boy? Tune in to Heartstopper Forever when it debuts on July 17 to find out. As writer, creator, and executive producer Oseman explains, it was important to open the movie on this moment for Charlie.
“It took us a long time to figure out where to start. Starting where Charlie is on top of the world immediately tells the audience where he is mentally. We can feel how far he has come on his journey,” says Oseman, who also writes the graphic novels on which the series and film are based. “It’s also such a classic Heartstopper feeling: celebrating being who you are and standing up for what’s right. That felt like the best way to start before we got into the angst.”
Connor agrees, hinting that we’re about to see a new dynamic between Nick and Charlie. Just as Charlie is finding his way out of his mental health struggles, Nick’s family issues start catching up with him. “The movie opens with Charlie taking that step from uncertainty to a quiet confidence, while Nick is just starting to tip the other way into uncertainty,” he says.
In the Olivia Rodrigo–soundtracked trailer, we preview how lost Nick is feeling, and the ways Charlie flips the script and learns to support him. “What’s really interesting is Nick and Charlie are not nervous around each other anymore,” says Oseman. “They’ve been together for so long; they just feel safe and content.”
That said, both boys have ample reason for angst: When we last saw Nick and Charlie in Season 3 of Heartstopper, their relationship was soaring. But as the film’s trailer foreshadows, with Nick applying to university and Charlie finding new independence at Truham, their relationship will face its toughest challenge yet: the looming obstacle of long-distance love.
The first few minutes also offer a glimpse of Isaac (Tobie Donovan) and Tao (William Gao) in the audience. What will the final years of secondary school hold for the rest of the Paris squad, including Elle (Yasmin Finney), Darcy (Kizzy Edgell), Tara (Corinna Brown), and Imogen (Rhea Norwood)? How will they fare with all the exciting and terrifying developments that come at this pivotal moment?
These first few minutes usher in the final installment of Heartstopper. For fans who dread saying goodbye to one of Netflix’s most beloved franchises, Locke says to take his character’s lead. “It feels like sending a kid off to university,” he says. “I hope that there’s that nostalgia for fans.”
Don’t miss Heartstopper Forever on July 17 to find out how Nick and Charlie’s romance will weather its biggest change yet. And for even more Heartstopper, check out the farewell documentary Heartstopper: Ending on a Hi and Heartstopper Forever: The Official Podcast.
