What’s next for Nick and Charlie?

Here’s how Season 3 tackles mental health, takes relationships to the next level, and what this means for Nick and Charlie’s future, according to Locke and Connor.

🚨Warning: This story contains spoilers for Season 3 of Heartstopper.

What happens at the end of the third season of “Heartstopper”?

“Heartstopper” Season 3 consists of eight episodes and moves on emotional terrain. The first, “Love,” picks up right where Season 2 left off – with Charlie desperate to say “I love you,” and Nick desperate for Charlie to open up about his mental health.

Both will be addressed by the end of the season.

Charlie’s mental health

Midway through the third season, Charlie must come to terms with how his mental health issues are affecting his life.

In episode 4, he enters a clinic for inpatient treatment, where he is diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Anorexia is an eating disorder in which there is restriction or strong control over the amount or type of food one eats. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a pattern of unwanted thoughts (obsessions) that lead to repetitive behaviors (compulsions) that can cause stress and disrupt daily life.

Locke tells TODAY.com that his goal was to portray someone suffering from anorexia and obsessive-compulsive disorder as “authentically and respectfully as possible.”

“It’s such a difficult subject to get right on screen, and you don’t want to upset people or provoke people in a way you don’t intend,” he says. “I spoke to people I know and did a lot of research on my own to make sure I didn’t fall into unnecessary stereotypes.”

In the show, Charlie tells Nick over the phone about his diagnosis during one of his first calls from the clinic.

“I mean, I was a little surprised by the OCD. But I have all these rules in my head about food, and if I don’t follow them, I feel like I’m going to die,” says Charlie with a slight laugh. “I’m sorry, I have to laugh about this or I’ll just cry.”

“Well, even if you suffer from anorexia and OCD, the word ‘sorry’ is still forbidden,” Nick replies.

Charlie returns home from treatment at the end of Episode 4, and the rest of the season follows him as he works with a therapist, follows a nutrition plan, and works to communicate with his family.

Nick’s university prospects

The end of the season mainly follows Nick and Charlie as they take their relationship to the next level.

After an honest conversation about Charlie’s fears about taking off his shirt – “I don’t look like Jack Maddox or anything,” Charlie says (more on him later) – the couple decides to continue having sex at the end of episodes 7 and 8.

But the title of the season finale, “Apart,” hints at the obstacles they still have to face, especially in light of Nick’s impending graduation.

Nick, who is a year older than Charlie, begins to look into universities, and the school closest to home – and Charlie – may not be the school he wants to attend.

In Episode 8, Nick goes on a university tour with Tara (Corinna Brown), Imogen (Rhea Norwood) and Elle (Yasmin Finney). When they get stuck in a traffic jam on the way back, they almost miss a festival where Charlie and his band are performing. But in true Heartstopper fashion, the show ends on a sweet note, and the crew arrives just in time.

A cameo appearance by Jonathan Bailey

To put it mildly, the second half of season three also brings with it a highly anticipated celebrity cameo.

Jonathan Bailey appears in Episode 6 as Jack Maddox, a classics scholar and Charlie’s celebrity crush. The couple attends one of his lectures and in the end, Maddox’s Nick is also exhausted and speechless.

Locke says he and Connor “learn a lot” when they have people like Bailey on set.

“You learn a lot from top people, and it’s great to watch him and the way he works,” says Locke.

Any specific advice from Bailey?

“Unfortunately I don’t think he really had enough time for it,” says Connor. “I’m sure if he had been there a little longer and we had given him more to do, he might have had a little more time to share some wisdom with us.”

“But to be honest… he had some tricky, tricky lines, so I think he really tried to get them out, which I wouldn’t have been able to do as quickly and smoothly as he did,” he adds.

What’s next for Nick and Charlie?

While Heartstopper hasn’t officially been renewed for a fourth season, Connor says there’s still “a lot” to explore between Nick and Charlie.

“See how their relationship fares with the new things they may have to deal with, like long distance maybe or just more life and hormones,” says Connor.

Season 3 touches on content up to Volume 5 of Oseman’s graphic novel series “Heartstopper”, which was released in the USA in December 2023

Oseman has announced that the series will end with Volume 6, which she is actively working on. (Oseman told the Guardian in a September article: “I’m only at 50 pages, but I know what’s going to happen, what all the dialogue is going to look like, and now I’m just going to sit down and draw it, whatever it is.”) Favorite part.”)

If renewed, the fourth season of “Heartstopper” would be based on content from volume 6 and a novella called “Nick and Charlie,” Oseman revealed on her Patreon in May. Nick and Charlie was first released in 2015 and takes place before Nick goes to university.

As for Volume 6, Oseman said she wanted the story to act as an “epilogue” to the core of what “Heartstopper” is about: “the day-to-day progression of Nick and Charlie’s relationship and the ups and downs of their school years.” together.”

Oseman told Attitude Magazine in 2023 that she had “known for ages how ‘Heartstopper’ was going to end.”

“I’m not going to spoil anything,” Oseman said. “But I mean, it’s a happy ending.”