SPOILER ALERT: This piece contains spoilers for the Heartstopper Forever film now streaming on Netflix.
Heartstopper fans need not worry for Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), for their love story leaves off on a happy ending that is both optimistic and realistic in Heartstoppr Forever, the concluding film now streaming on Netflix.
A combination of the sixth graphic novel in the Heartstopper series and Alice Oseman’s Nick and Charlie novella, the almost two-hour film traces more struggles and maturity shown in the boys’ bond as Nick prepares to go to university, Charlie steps into the role of Head Boy and their friends navigate their upcoming graduation and separate paths in life.
Oseman is feeling “all the emotions” in this farewell moment to characters that have been part of her “day to day for 10 years.”
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“Now they’re not anymore, and it’s very strange and very sad to be saying goodbye. But I also feel really proud to have got to this point and to have been able to tell the full story, to be able to end it in the way that I wanted to,” Oseman told Deadline. “I’m really excited that people will be able to come to Heartstopper and experience it from beginning to end.”
Below, find the fates of each Heartstopper character who viewers have come to know over six years on television, comparison to their graphic novel ending and what Oseman had to say about their stories drawing to a close.
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Nick & Charlie’s Breakup
Image Credit: Netflix
Readers of the sixth graphic novel might wonder why, in the film, Nick and Charlie break up briefly when it doesn’t happen in the final book. That’s because Oseman drew the conflict from both her final novel and the Nick and Charlie novella, a short story she wrote in 2015 before she wrote any of the Heartstopper books.
“Because I wrote that story so long ago, before I wrote Heartstopper, a lot of that doesn’t really feel very in line with Heartstopper or feel very true to the characters that we know now,” she said. “So there are a few changes in the way that I approach this breakup. I take elements of that and merge it with Volume Six, and that is the film.”
The breakup ultimately comes from lack of communication between Charlie and Nick about how Nick is feeling. He bottles up his emotions, and Charlie tries to get him to talk about it, but it’s long been ingrained in Nick to feel he has to be the strong one and not show weakness because of his father (Thibault de Montalembert). Thus, Charlie suggests maybe they should take time apart, which neither of them want, but Nick fully withdraws and they go a period without speaking.
“It felt really right, for the TV universe Nick and Charlie, to see them go through that. We know that they love each other so much, almost to the point of putting their own issues aside to help the other person, which I think can cause a bit of codependency,” Oseman said. “To be able let them go and see them off into their futures, I really wanted to get to the root of those issues and see them let everything out and how they can heal from that and become stronger.”
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No Cheating & Nick and Charlie’s Happy Ending
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While Charlie and Nick are separated, Nick meets a friend of Imogen’s (Rhea Norwood) who offers him help with a rebound after his breakup. He ultimately says no thanks, but Charlie witnesses the interaction during Truham Pride at Fernando’s. The encounter itself between Nick and the girl looks slightly flirty, and Charlie turns tail and walks away.
“I think that’s kind of Heartstopper‘s approach to a lot of the drama and conflict, is that, sometimes, there is the opportunity to go down a more dramatic [path], to introduce more anxiety or more tension or more complication to the story. Often there there’ll be the opportunity to do that, but actually, we choose instead to go for love and joy,” Oseman said. “And prioritizing how much the characters genuinely love each other. We could have had Charlie walking in, seeing Nick kissing a girl, and it would have been so dramatic and devastating for Charlie, and it would have been really painful, but we would never do something like that in Heartstopper because that’s just not the essence of what Heartstopper does. Nick and Charlie only want to be together. They don’t want to be with anyone else, and that’s just a fundamental truth.”
The epilogue of the film, much like in Oseman’s sixth graphic novel, watches Charlie run to get on a train to visit Nick at Leeds. Nick’s admission letter was celebrated earlier on in the film before the breakup. Charlie voiced that it would be hard without Nick in his final year at Truham, but he also made it clear that they would work out the distance when Nick was initially afraid to tell Charlie that Leeds was his top choice.
The pair go to a Gay Club and share pancakes the morning after, just like in Oseman’s novel and like Charlie’s vision for their future early on in the film.
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Mental Health – Charlie’s Speech To Win Head Boy
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A big theme for the film and graphic novel series as a whole is mental health, and Heartstopper Forever tackles that of boys and men, where there is pressure to be strong and act like everything’s okay.
At the beginning of the film, Charlie campaigns for Head Boy of Truham and bases a lot of his speech on his experience with bullying and coming out in a toxic school culture that represses discussion of feelings. This then comes full circle with Nick’s realization that he closes off, which will be addressed below.
“It feels like a really natural progression for both of those characters as individuals. Charlie has been through so much, but we’ve seen, towards the end of Season 3, how he has been healing from the period of very bad mental health that he’s experienced,” Oseman said. “And how he’s come out stronger from that, and that’s really the place that we see him from the beginning of the movie. He’s got this new power, this new confidence that we have never really seen before.”
Many of their friend group point out Charlie’s new self-confidence, which contrasts sharply with Nick’s doubts about their future and constant worry that Charlie may relapse into self harm or his eating disorder. His election to the leadership position suits him, and he wields the responsibility well.
“That in turn shines a light on some of the issues that Nickhas that have been unaddressed. Nick has quite a complicated family life, and that has affected him in ways that he’s never really unpacked or understood,” Oseman said. “For him to feel confident to step into his future, the anxieties that he’s feeling about that cause everything else to come out. It’s a really interesting thing to see the sort of dynamic between Nick and Charlie flip where Nick is the one struggling a little bit more. But I think that that equilibrium is the one of the lovely things about Nick and Charlie, and that maybe one person is struggling more than the other, but they’re always going to be there to support each other and love each other and help each other.”
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Nick’s Self-Awareness
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After speaking a bit to Charlie about his identity crisis and how he feels when he’s not dedicating himself to being Charlie’s partner, Nick has a moment of clarity with his mom, Sarah (portrayed by Anna Maxwell Martin in the film vs. Olivia Colman in the show).
“There’s so much to say that that scene. First of all, it’s a really interesting parallel to the scene in season one where Nick comes out to his mum, and it’s similar in a way that he is having this emotional revelation and sharing it with one of the closest people in his life,” Oseman pointed out. “But in the film, it’s a more complicated thing to have realized. It’s not as simple as ‘I’m bisexual,’ which is what Nick was figuring out at the start of the story. I really struggled a lot when writing to figure out when Nick should express those feelings about his father and about his brother and their past.”
The comic cartoon flourishes that emphasize Nick’s pain are white flashes, compared to the dark clouds that visit Charlie and even Darcy (Kizzy Edgell) in previous seasons of the show to emphasize their “having a difficult time or feeling really dark in some way.”
“Initially, there were earlier conversations in the film where Nick and his mum had more chats about it. There were actually more conversation between Nick and David, his brother, but we all decided that it made more sense to save it until that moment and just to let those feelings build until he’s finally able to release all of the pain that he has experienced,” Oseman added. “It makes it so hard-hitting and emotional in that scene.
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Nick & Tao’s Friendship
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Just as Tao (William Gao) has supported Nick in his relationship with Charlie in the past, Nick consoles Tao at their graduation ball when he is sad about how things have left off with Elle (Yasmin Finney) ahead of her leaving to Berlin for art school. In the graphic novel, it’s Charlie who shares the conversation on the bench with his friend.
“In the TV show, we’ve had one scene per season between Nick and Tao. They started as being very unsure of each other, thinking the other person doesn’t like them, and then they’ve developed this tentative friendship over the years, and so that’s why I felt like it was really nice to see them have that conversation in the film,” Oseman said. “Tao speaks about the idea that ‘Even though our relationships may change, we’re still all going to be friends. We’ve still got so much love between us all.’”
“I think that’s a really important message to end the film on — the idea that there’s still so much life left to live, and we just don’t know what is going to happen. We don’t know how all of our friendships and relationships are going to develop. But what we do know is that the love that we all share is so real and so true. That’s just a lovely note to end it on. So real. So human.”
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Elle’s March For Trans Rights
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“Elle is such an important character in Heartstopper. We followed her journey since Season 1, and it felt really important in the film to really speak to the current state of trans rights,” Oseman said “We’re in the moment right now where the trans community is under such threat constantly. Rights are being repealed. There’s so much scrutiny and discourse that is really harming the trans community, and so we wanted to make sure there was a moment in the film to let Elle speak on those fears that I think so many trans people are feeling right now.
A big part of the Truham Pride Parade involves Elle on a float with pink braids chanting “What Do We Want?” to the chorus response of “Trans Rights” and “When Do We Want Them?” getting a “Now!” from the crowd. Elle’s story has woven in the real-life status of trans people in the world in previous seasons of Heartstopper, in a podcast appearance she made for her art, as an example.
“I had some really great conversations with Yasmin Finney particularly about her speech in Charlie’s bedroom, where she just lets out all of the fear and the anxiety,” Oseman added. “We worked together to create something that felt really true to her and just felt really real. I’m really glad we got to put that in the movie.”
As for the rest of Nick and Charlie’s extended friend group, read on for their adventures and endings in the film and graphic novel.
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Elle & Tao’s Relationship
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Elle and Tao have some arguments in the film about whether they can make their relationship work when she moves to Berlin for art school. He wants to make it work, but she expresses that she can’t fly back and forth all the time to visit him.
They take a break of sorts, still supporting each other and their friends as well as sharing a last dance at the graduation ball. Tao then surprises Elle with a visit to an art gallery where she is presenting her work, and specifically a photo of him jumps out to those looking at her collection.
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Isaac’s Novel
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Isaac Henderson (Tobie Donovan) doesn’t exist in the graphic novels. Instead, Aled Last is one of Charlie’s original friends. Isaac had his own coming out as asexual in Season 3. Season 2 starts dropping hints about this when he shares a kiss with James McEwan (Bradley Riches) who also shows up at the pride parade in the film.
The beloved bookworm, always spotted reading something, has big dreams to write a novel of his own one day, and in the film’s final moments, he can be seen drafting it at the coffeeshop on his laptop with Charlie asking if he can be in the acknowledgements.
“That has never crossed my mind, but that would be fun,” Oseman said when asked if she has considered putting out Isaac’s novel in book form for readers. “I don’t know what sort of story he would write. Maybe he’d do some sort of intense literary contemporary novel about all his friends.”
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Tara Jones (Corinna Brown) and Darcy Olsson (Kizzy Edgell)
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Tara had anxiety struggles with the pressure to get into a good university like Oxford. After she didn’t get in, her mindset toward her future change, and she asked Darcy to go inter-railing with her. The pair can be seen running around, lugging big backpacks, in their travels at the end of the film, which echoes Oseman’s epilogue in the graphic novel.
In the novel, Darcy also crashes at Tara’s place for a bit after their mom kicks them out for a new haircut. This plot point took place across the end of Season 2 and in Season 3 of the Netflix series, and Darcy went to live with her grandmother Ivy (Annette Badland).
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Sahar Zahid (Leila Khan) & Imogen Heaney (Rhea Norwood)
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Sahar and Imogen, who shared a kiss in Season 3, each go their own ways as well. The pair remain friends.
Sahar & The Band, Queer Intentions
Though Queer Intentions, who perform in the film and in Season 3 with Charlie on the drums, break up, Sahar decides to go solo in her music career. This happens in the graphic novel as well. Imogen can be seen visiting her backstage before a show she plays.
Imogen & Her Sexual Identity
Imogen, who is also not in Oseman’s graphic novels, comes out as lesbian to Nick at Fernando’s during pride. She hints at her realization multiple times in the film before this moment between them, which harkens back to their hanging out as friends in Season 1 before Nick came out as bisexual and Imogen revealed she had a crush on him. They’ve come so far.
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Tori Spring (Jenny Walser) & Michael Holden (Darragh Hand)
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Charlie’s sister Tori tells him that she identifies as asexual while they watch Michael ice skate at practice. She shares a scene with Isaac in the beginning of the film which hints at this when she asks him if he gets made fun of for reading everywhere. He says yes, but it doesn’t seem to bother him much.
Michael, who remains faithful to Tori, ends up qualifying for the Winter Olympics in ice skating. Tori tells Charlie that their relationship works “because it’s us,” which Charlie explains to Nick in the graphic novel.
Michael also calls Tori while she is studying at the library to share his good news of qualifying for the Winter Olympics skating team with her in both the film and the novel
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Mr. Ajayi (Fisayo Akinade) & Mr. Farouk (Nima Taleghani)
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Mr. Ajayi, the art teacher who helped guide Charlie through dark times with bullying by letting him eat lunch in the art classroom, has found his love in Mr. Farouk, which was hinted at in Season 2.
In the sixth graphic novel, the pair get engaged, and the students point out that they are wearing rings. In the film, they reveal that they are dating when they shepherd Charlie’s Queer Club, and they do a cute dance at the graduation ball.
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Derek Jacobi’s Role
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Sir Derek Jacobi’s character is isolated to the sixth novel, and Oseman revealed that it is the actor and his real-life husband portraying the couple that Charlie serves coffee and cake to at The Rainy Day Coffeeshop where he works.
“That’s such a beautiful scene to witness. It’s Derek and his real-life husband, which just adds another such a beautiful layer onto that scene. It’s sadly so rare to see a queer couple of that age, which is why it’s so moving for Charlie to witness, and also for us as viewers and readers to witness that as well,” Oseman told Deadline. “It shows Charlie that this could be his future with Nick and tells us as well that it’s possible to be a queer elder, to have a long-term relationship, to be happy, to have a happy life.”
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Cameos From Alice Oseman and Patrick Walters
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Keep your eyes peeled for cameos from both Oseman and executive producer Patrick Walters in the film as well! Oseman can be spotted sketching on the train when Charlie visits Nick at Leeds in the end, echoing her appearance in Season 1 of the Netflix show. Walters can be spotted getting a coffee to-go when Charlie calls out his name at The Rainy Day.
“We discussed having cameos in the film. We felt like we had to because it’s our last chance,” Oseman said. “It just felt really right because that’s where I was in Season 1. I’m apparently this girl who lives on trains. That’s where I am all the time. Then we have Patrick appearing in the cafe as well, which was really fun. Those moments got some cheers in our premiere.”
