“It still doesn’t quite compute how many people have seen it and how many people love it”: Jenny Walser on Heartstopper season three

Ground-breaking and well-beloved, Heartstopper is an incredible show following a group of teenage friends navigating high school, love and growing up. Based on the graphic novel series by Alice Oseman, Heartstopper focuses on young members of the LGBTQ+ community, exploring their identities and sexualities, amidst typical teenage drama in sports, crushes, ex-boyfriends, school work and friendship dynamics. This upcoming third season sees the series tackling more mature themes of mental health and eating disorders, as well as the physical and more intimate aspects of teen relationships.

A character taking on a more elevated role this season is Tori Spring, the sister of the main character Charlie Spring. Played by Jenny Walser, Tori further becomes a fundamental support figure in Charlie’s journey with his mental health. She also begins to expand as a character outside of her relationship with her brother with the introduction of Michael this season. The Upcoming caught up with the actress to talk about her friendship with Joe Locke as they navigate through the darker themes of this season, Nick and Tori’s friendship as they bond over supporting Charlie, and the soundtrack of Heartstopper.

To start us off with, can you please give us a brief introduction to Heartstopper season three and what people can expect going into this season?

Season three is more of the same joy, with young people navigating what it is to be a young adult these days. There are slightly more mature themes in terms of growing up alongside the characters. But it still has the same heart and joy that fans have loved in seasons one and two. I think there’s a lot of light and shade in there for everyone.

Tell us about your character Tori Spring and what you’re most looking forward to the audience seeing from her this season.

This season’s been a joy. I’m in it a bit more; we get to see more of Tori on-screen which I think – not just selfishly – is a really great thing. She brings a lot of comedy. But then also this season, even more so than in the past two seasons, she’s a real figure of support in Charlie’s life. In this season, we see Charlie struggling with his mental health and in particular, an eating disorder. Tori is a fundamental figure of support in him seeking help and trying to recover. I think the whole family – all of the Springs – each have a different approach to supporting Charlie which I think is a very realistic portrayal of what it could be like to be in a slightly dysfunctional household and trying to help somebody without entirely knowing how.

And as on-screen siblings, what’s your relationship like with Joe Locke? You mentioned the journey Charlie goes through this season and Tori being a figure of support. How did you as an actor and peer support Joe through his journey of playing this character and the darker topics he has to tackle this season?

I’ve always felt naturally protective of him. In other interviews, they’ve asked me if I talked to anybody who’s an older sibling in order to understand how it is to feel that older sibling protectiveness. But I didn’t have to because I naturally felt comfortable and protective around him. The main important thing is we tried to have as much fun as we normally do on-set to keep it really, really light. It was also lovely having Georgina Rich and Joseph Balderrama – who play our parents – around a lot more because they’ve naturally become like our on-set parents. It’s always quite nice to have them around to give us a cuddle or just have a bit of a laugh. The whole set felt quite light. Whilst there was a responsibility to portray these things accurately and with care, we also tried to still keep everything fun.

We saw a bit of contrast in sibling dynamics between Tori and Charlie with the arrival of Nick’s brother David back in season two. Is that something you would like to tap more into further down the line?

It’s definitely an interesting dynamic. Whilst it’s Charlie who’s really struggling with his mental health, Nick is also struggling with knowing how to care for and talk to this person that he absolutely adores and loves. He knows himself he doesn’t have that support from his brother that Charlie does in Tori, which I think is quite a sad element to the story. But it’s quite nice that the relationship between Tori and Nick this season deepens. There are some very lovely moments when they’re both supporting each other and helping each other in how to best support Charlie. He becomes sort of her surrogate brother at some points, and she becomes his surrogate sister. I find that element of what Tori’s able to give to Nick quite lovely because his brother just isn’t emotionally able to be that support for him.

Everyone’s stories are so individual yet so universal – Heartstopper truly is a coming-of-age series in that regard. Outside of Tori, is there anybody else’s arc this season or throughout the series so far that you personally connect with, whether that’s in the present day or back when you were a teenager?

Isaac’s continued story in regards to his asexuality is really interesting because it’s something I certainly have never seen explored when I was growing up. In fact, I wasn’t even aware of asexuality until very recently. It’s pretty great that that’s a storyline being portrayed beautifully by both Tobie Donovan and also Alice Oseman’s writing. I have a really soft spot for that storyline, and there are certain elements that apply to Tori and her relationship with Michael. It’s not particularly spoiling things to say – if people have read some of the books – that Tori does still question her sexuality herself. Whilst in the series, there’s no confusion as to what I think is definitely a link between Tori and Isaac.

We see early in the season that all-too-familiar GCSE results day and all the anxieties that came with that. Do you remember the seemingly make-or-break decisions you had back then and how cathartic is it watching all of that unfold on-screen knowing what you know now?

It’s bizarre and it’s a long time ago for me – GCSEs would’ve been over 12 years ago! Honestly, at the time, it feels like your world completely depends on it. You can’t really think outside of it. It’s funny to think back now; I struggle to even exactly remember what subjects I did or what grades I got because, you know, it does pale in significance in the end. Also, these days, they grade it differently! There’s all of these number ones and number nines! I was still doing it in A* to – I don’t know what it would’ve been – maybe U? It’s very odd. I can relate but it’s also so different to what I had in school.

I also want to touch on the music of Heartstopper. Every season’s soundtrack has been iconic and this one in particular has been spot-on in terms of the songs chosen for specific moments. When you’re filming these scenes, do you ever think about what the final product might look like and what songs you would’ve liked to hear featured in that season?

It’s not something I really think of whilst we’re filming. But when you watch it, sometimes there’ll be a song that you’d never really pair with a moment but then it works so perfectly. I think soundtracking a show or a film is such a skill and it’s really difficult. But they’re so good at it in Heartstopper! The song at the moment when Tori and Michael first see each other at the party, it’s like one of my favourite songs now! I remember hearing it for the first time when we were doing ADR and then I went home immediately and listened to it non-stop for days. It just pairs so perfectly with that scene. We got very lucky with the artists that have allowed us to use their music.

When you first started in season one, did you ever think this could ever be as big and as well-beloved of a show as it is now? How proud are you of its heartwarming and uplifting impact on the LGBTQ+ community?

Hugely proud. It still doesn’t quite compute how many people have seen it and how many people love it. Because it’s just numbers that you can’t quite fathom! We knew there was a fanbase already out there from the books. But that wasn’t a guarantee that they would approve of or like what we’ve done. I’m so incredibly happy that the fans love it and on top of that, that more fans came in. I think we knew that it had the potential to be pretty big but you never want to rest on your laurels and think that you’ve got a hit in your hands because you just don’t know. It felt very low key when we were filming the first season. Even in subsequent seasons, it still feels very low key, like we’re just making a little short film.

As for yourself, what’s next for you after Heartstopper season three? Do you have any other projects coming up that you can tell us about?

I’ve got a show called The Next Level that I filmed in Berlin. I filmed it sort of at a similar time to Heartstopper season three. I’m not quite sure when it’ll come out but I think maybe early next year. I play a very, very different character. Someone older, American and married. That was cool to do something different. Definitely, I feel very blessed that I’m able to play young characters. But it’s also quite nice to explore characters more similar to my own age. That’s ideally what I’d love for my career; shapeshifting between different characters is really the dream. That’s what I’d love but [for now], I’m going with the flow, crossing this bridge and once the show’s out we’ll see what’s next.

Mae Trumata

Heartstopper season three is released on Netflix on 3^rd October 2024.

Watch the trailer for Heartstopper season three here: