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How Netflix, creator Alice Oseman, and a surprise actor helped keep a core Heartstopper scene intact in the show's third season

Olivia Coleman may not be around to help Nick, but Netflix has drafted in a familiar face to deliver important truths in Heartstopper season 3

News by Graeme McMillan, Editor

Published on Thu Oct 03 2024

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There’s a core scene in the original comic version of Heartstopper that, when it was announced earlier this year that Olivia Coleman was unavailable to appear in the third season of the Netflix TV adaptation, seemed as if it would be lost forever — until creator Alice Oseman and a very familiar face came up with an alternate solution.

Coleman had appeared in the first two seasons of the Netflix version of the beloved series, but revealed earlier this year that she wouldn’t be appearing in the new season due to scheduling issues. “I couldn’t fit it in. I feel awful about that,” she said at the time, calling the series “one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever been part of.”

The news sent shockwaves through the fandom of the series, because it meant that a key scene in the original story — wherein Coleman’s character, Sarah, tells her son that even love cannot cure mental illness as he struggles with Charlie's depression — might be absent from the television version. At the time, Alice Oseman posted a story on her Instagram account addressing the issue, writing, “I know there is one scene in particular that many of you have been looking forward to in season 3, and you may be feeling disappointed and disheartened with us. I totally understand — I was really worried too, when I first found out! If there is one thing I could ask of you, it’s to not give up on us quite yet. I have done everything in my power to preserve that scene as written in the comic, and I’ve written in some new elements of the story to ensure that it gives us the emotional punch that it gives in the comic.”

When initially posted, people wondered what that actually meant, especially as Oseman also stated in the same post that Sarah would not be recast with another actor.

“It's such an important, pivotal moment for Nick in particular, one of the really key scenes in that whole storyline. I knew that conversation needed to happen, but sadly it couldn't be with Nick's mom,” Oseman told Entertainment Weekly more recently, promoting the show's season debut this week. But how could the scene survive without one of the two participants? Turns out, the answer was to call in Marvel’s Agent Carter — literally.

Hayley Atwell was added to the series to play Nick’s aunt Diane, who delivers the conversation fans have been waiting for onscreen. The character makes a brief appearance in the comic, but had been missing from the television version… until now. Atwell joined the show without an audition after it became known she was interested in getting involved, but that doesn’t mean that the process to add her to the series was an easy one on the writing side.

“I had to go back, weave in some new scenes, introduce her as a character, help us to understand what her relationship is like with Nick, and then gently lead us towards this final scene that will make sense and that will still have that really emotional impact when we watch it,” Oseman explained. (This translates as, there's more Atwell than just that one scene in the new season.) “I'm really happy with how it all turned out,” the writer says looking back. “I think it works out really well and it makes total sense within the episode and it's really emotional.”

Fans can decide if they feel the same immediately; Heartstopper season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.

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Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.