Heartstopper Forever

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Charlie gets voted head boy on a campaign against bullying and later intervenes when he sees a younger student named Alfie bullied. Mr. Lange doesn't approve a Pride club but Mr. Ajayi allows him to use his classroom for it. While the boys, Ajayi and Farouk wait there, eventually Alfie and more students drop in.

Nick decides on Leeds as his top choice for university, though he's anxious about the distance to Charlie, but he doesn't know how to describe himself in the application essay. Charlie encourages him to take a volunteering job outside school. Nick has a nightmare about Charlie dying and at a pub gets drunkenly aggressive against someone flirting with Charlie. At rugby, Nick gets into an altercation that leaves him bleeding. Charlie gifts Nick a camera that he can take photos of them both to Leeds. Nick gets a volunteering job at a dog shelter.

Elle and Tao break up over their distance, if Elle would go to Berlin, but as they have done so several times before, their friends wonder whether they will get together again or stay separated for good this time. Worries about the notion that teenage relationships don't last, about Nick shutting down, worrying too much about the future and needing space to learn being happy without Charlie cause the boys to break up.

At home, this makes Charlie stay in and not eat, until his friends come to him instead. After Elle asks him for support in times when trans rights get attacked, they attend a Pride parade and visit a gay club, but Charlie leaves when he sees Nick speaking with a girl. Both type text messages to meet and talk without sending them. David tells Nick that he will move to Paris to their father and, asked by Tara, Nick visits the gay club meeting her, Darcy, Sahar and Imogen, who has found her identity as lesbian. There, he encounters Tao and speaks with Imogen's friend before spotting Charlie.

At his work in a café, Charlie serves an elderly gay couple, observing them talk about worrying and looking after each other. Nick talks about the effects his father had on him with his mother who encourages him not to give up on his relationship. When Charlie calls her and Michael a straight couple, Tori comes out as asexual and explains why they are together despite being opposites. After stumbling upon the camera again, Charlie developes the photos Nick took of them and drops them at Nick's with a message to meet at the beach, where they talk and get together again. After prom, they revisit the room where they had their first kiss.

Later, Tara and Darcy go interrailing together, Sahar is a solo artist, Michael has been accepted into the Ice Skating team for the Winter Olympics, Tao visits Elle in Berlin and Charlie visits Nick in Leeds.

• Kit Connor as Nick Nelson
• Joe Locke as Charlie Spring
• William Gao as Tao Xu
• Yasmin Finney as Elle Argent
• Corinna Brown as Tara Jones
• Kizzy Edgell as Darcy Olsson
• Tobie Donovan as Isaac Henderson
• Jenny Walser as Tori Spring
• Rhea Norwood as Imogen Heaney
• Leila Khan as Sahar Zahid
• Fisayo Akinade as Mr. Ajayi
• Nima Taleghani as Mr. Farouk
• Jack Barton as David Nelson
• Darragh Hand as Michael Holden
• Anna Maxwell Martin as Sarah Nelson. Martin replaces Olivia Colman from the series.
• Eddie Marsan as Geoff Young
• Derek Jacobi as Pete

Additionally, reprising their roles from the series in minor or supporting capacity are Bradley Riches as student James McEwan, Ashwin Vishwanath, Evan Ovenell, Araloyin Oshunremi and Cormac Hyde-Corrin as Nick's rugby teammates Sai Verma, Christian McBride, Otis Smith and Harry Greene; Chetna Pandya and Alan Turkington as teachers Coach Singh and Mr. Lange; Georgina Rich and Joseph Balderrama as Charlie's parents Jane and Julio Spring; Thibault de Montalembert as Nick's father Stephane Nelson; Bel Priestley, Ash Self and Rebecca Root as Lambert students Naomi Russell and Felix Britten and Principal Edwards.

In new roles, Caleb Evers plays Alfie, a younger student Charlie helps against bullying, and Oliver Maltman plays Kenneth, Nick's boss at the dog shelter. Derek Jacobi's real-life partner Richard Clifford portrays his character Pete's partner.

Series creator and writer Alice Oseman appears as a passenger on a train to Leeds. Executive producer Patrick Walters cameos as a patron of the café that Charlie works at.

Development

Series creator Alice Oseman originally stated that she expected Heartstopper to run for four seasons to fully adapt the graphic novel series of the same name.^[2] Following the third season, the future of the programme became uncertain.^[3] This was reportedly because of a 30% drop in viewing figures from the preceding season and potential complications with contracts among the cast.^[4] Oseman and executive producer Patrick Walters said that they were working on acquiring a renewal.^[3][5]

On 22 April 2025, it was reported that Netflix opted to commission a feature-length film to serve as the series finale in lieu of a fourth season.^[6] The film will be written by Oseman as an adaptation of the sixth and final volume in the graphic novel series, as well as the novella Nick and Charlie.^[7][8] Series stars Kit Connor and Joe Locke will serve as executive producers of the finale.^[9][10] In July 2025, the title was revealed to be Heartstopper Forever.^[11][12]

Casting

Prior to the film being greenlit, both Connor and Locke expressed interest in returning for a fourth season of Heartstopper.^[13][14] Once it was confirmed, it was reported that both would reprise their roles as Nick and Charlie, respectively.^{[15] [16]}

In April 2026, it was announced that Olivia Colman would not be returning as Sarah Nelson and had been recast with Anna Maxwell Martin taking over the role. The majority of the main cast including Yasmin Finney, William Gao, Corinna Brown, Kizzy Edgell, Tobie Donovan and Rhea Norwood were also confirmed, alongside Derek Jacobi in a yet undisclosed role.^[17]

Filming

The film is being directed by Wash Westmoreland.^[18] Principal photography began on 9 June 2025,^[19] and Oseman said that filming was over halfway completed by 2 July.^[20] The cast announced online that filming had wrapped on 27 July.^[21]

Heartstopper Forever had its premiere at the Cineworld Leicester Square in London on 14 July 2026.^[22] The film was released internationally on Netflix on 17 July 2026.^[23]

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating based on 27 reviews.^[24] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 67 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[25]

Aramide Tinubu of Variety wrote that Hearstopper Forever is a "mature and elevated swan song, the movie delivers a fitting goodbye while giving fans a glimpse at the perfect epilogue".^[26]

Accolades

More information Award, Date of ceremony ...

Accolades received by Heartstopper Forever

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref(s).
Queerties Awards	10 March 2026	Next Big Thing	Heartstopper Forever	Nominated	[27]

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