Joe Locke teases Heartstopper’s “raunchier” third season

While we wait for season three of Heartstopper, its breakout star Joe Locke is already spreading his talent beyond the beloved series. He’s making his Marvel debut in the upcoming Agatha: Darkhold Diaries and his Broadway debut in the Sweeney Todd revival. With so much success for an actor barely out of high school, Locke has some words of wisdom for queer youth—along with some teasers for Heartstopper.

“It’s very pinch-me all the time, which is great,” Locke told the Just for Variety podcast. “But every night I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’ – in the best way.”

One of the drawbacks of sudden fame has been the prying into his private life. Although Locke has been out since around the age of 12, he only recently confirmed his sexuality to the press. He’s well aware of the effect of being publicly out while starring on such a high profile queer TV show.

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“I do see the impact that the show and I guess us as a cast being unapologetically us has had on people, but I think I’m just living my life,” he said. “I’ve never been someone to apologize for who I am and I don’t think anyone should ever do that. My friends will tell you that much.”

His advice for any viewers struggling with their sexuality is to be true to themselves, even (or especially) if they haven’t found that same supportive group just yet. “Just be you,” Locke says. “Everyone’s experience is different … I have an amazing group of people around me, but yeah, just be you. That’s all you can be.”

Locke also shared a cryptic description for Heartstopper’s third season, which wrapped filming in December. “Grown-up, hormonal and growth,” are the three words with which he summed up the season.

In a recent interview on The Today Show, Locke elaborated on what this means. “Every season of our show, we grow up with the characters more,” he said. “And this season, it’s definitely a bit raunchier.

“It’s still Heartstopper,” he added. “But it’s also that we deal with some darker issues. Charlie, my character, he deals with some quite severe mental health issues, which we tackle in the season, which I’m very excited for people to see.”

Heartstopper season three is slated to come out later this year.