‘Heartstopper’ Season 2 Recap: What To Know For Season 3

Netflix’s Heartstopper returns for a third season set in the world of Alice Oseman’s joyful comics in October 2024.

Season 2 arrived over a year ago amid the dual Hollywood strikes, meaning that talent couldn’t promote the show as its sophomore installment followed up the success of Season 1 on the streamer. Season 2 signaled a shift to more serious subjects that will be broached in Season 3.

A school trip to Paris, some new faces and PROM as well as various new and familiar relationship dynamics were tested in Season 2. Here’s what to remember before Heartstopper Season 3 comes out.

Nick Wants to Come Out

Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), came out to his mom (Olivia Colman) at the end of Season 1, and he was working on proclaiming his bisexuality to others as well, like Imogen (Rhea Norwood), who he’d known for a long time. Charlie (Joe Locke) arranged a sleepover at his place for his friend group, who all encouraged Nick to tell Imogen that he was dating Charlie. Another person he faced coming out to was his brother David (Jack Barton) who was staying with Nick and their mom for his uni holiday. Nick and his brother clash, as David’s not the nicest person.

Elle Wants to Go to Lambert, And She’s Crushing on Tao

Elle (Yasmin Finney), who transferred to Higgs, the sister school of Truham, in Season 1, hoped to get a spot at the prestigious art school Lambert. She also realized she had feelings for Tao (William Gao), but she couldn’t tell if he reciprocated. Her friends Tara Jones (Corinna Brown) and Darcy Olson (Kizzy Edgel) convinced her to flirt with him, but they had trouble connecting at first.

Academics Got More Serious

Charlie’s (Joe Locke) teachers noticed a decline in his focus on school, which his parents realized correlated with Nick being his new boyfriend. When Charlie informed his mom (Georgina Rich) and dad (Joseph Balderrama) of this fact, his dad said no more sleepovers in their house and no “hanky panky.” Charlie’s mom worried that Nick would distract Charlie from his schoolwork.

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Nick had to revise, or study, for the GCSEs that every Year 11 takes ahead of university to figure out what they want to study. He was paired with Ben Hope (Sebastian Croft) during study hall, and they argued about Charlie because Ben had previously liked Charlie, but their relationship was toxic.

Tao Asks Elle Out

An adventure on the horizon for all grades at Truham and Higgs was the Paris trip, which took place after Nick’s GCSEs. After exams end and the term is over, Mr. Farouk (Nima Taleghani), the science teacher who didn’t appear until Season 2 and Mr. Ajayi (Fisayo Akinade) host an informational meeting about the Paris trip. Tao missed the meeting, but he stood ready after it ended with a bouquet and a new look to ask Elle on a date to the cinema. She accepted, and they went to see Moonrise Kingdom, but Elle didn’t like that Tao had cut his hair and picked a movie that only she liked for their date. They clashed over this, and their fate as a couple was uncertain for a bit.

The Paris Trip

The whole friend group — Isaac (Tobie Donovan), Tara, Darcy, Nick, Charlie, Elle, Tao, Sahar (Leila Khan) and Imogen — flock to Paris under the chaperones Farouk and Ajayi. The holiday included many shenanigans and heartfelt moments as well as more difficult ones. Nick and Ben were paired up for a worksheet assignment after their previous GCSE study hall argument. Nick accidentally gave Charlie a hickey or love bite, and their classmates speculated about who could have been responsible, landing on James (Bradley Riches) as the only option because he was the only gay guy present. He was the only out gay boy, while both Ben and Nick were keeping their bisexuality mum.

While Tao and Elle weren’t really speaking, their friends ditched them so that they were forced to spend time in Montmartre admiring all the art, and this led them to become friends again.

Imogen, who was dating Ben, dumped him because he wouldn’t give her attention unless he was being watched by Charlie or Nick. Nick had confronted Ben about dating Imogen, warning him not to treat her like he had Charlie. Imogen seemed to put together that Ben and Charlie had been a thing after she broke up with Ben, but Charlie didn’t confirm it.

Nick, who speaks fluent French, was trying to meet up with his dad Stephane (Thibault de Montalembert) the whole time, and Charlie was the last to hear him converse on the phone with his father before accompanying Nick to go see his dad. Charlie had previously fainted in one of the museums because he hadn’t eaten at all that day. Nick started to take note of how little Charlie ate. Stephane barely stayed long enough to chat with Nick and Charlie before he was interrupted by a phone call that he “couldn’t get out of.”

Tara’s Birthday Party

Darcy, who had been avoiding acknowledging that Tara said “I love you” to her, threw Tara a huge surprise birthday party in one of their hotel rooms on the Paris trip. Harry Greene (Cormac Hyde-Corrin) tried to come in, but Charlie denied him entry. During a game of spin the bottle and truth or dare, Nick came out to the group because one person kept asking Charlie to either kiss another boy or to confess who gave him the love bite.

To conclude the night, Darcy got drunk and had to go be with Mr. Farouk and Mr. Ajayi pretending she had “food poisoning,” though Farouk knew that was not the case. After she threw up on one of their beds, Farouk offered Ajayi to share a bed that night. Ajayi had hinted previously that he was flirting with Farouk, who had confessed that he didn’t realize he was gay until his late 20s.

Isaac’s Asexuality

Also at Tara’s party, James kissed Isaac, but Isaac’s reaction wasn’t one of immediate happiness. He walked back into the hotel room with a tear streaming down his cheek. James and Isaac work together in Truham’s library, and James subtly hinted that he had feelings for Isaac, thinking Isaac might be gay as well.

Later, Isaac told James that he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to feel like with a crush, and he thought he might feel it with James, but James suggested maybe he hadn’t found the right person yet. Isaac had also asked Charlie how he knew he liked Nick. At a moment further into the show, Isaac sees an art exhibit that expresses how asexuality feels, and he talks to the artist. Later, during Prom, Isaac finds a book about asexuality, and there’s a moment of relief as he takes it and a small cartoon purple leaf falls, signifying that he feels seen.

Elle Got Into Lambert

In addition to clinching a spot at the art school alongside her friends Naomi (Bel Priestly) and Felix (Ash Self), Elle’s artwork was selected to exhibit at a queer and trans art night. She advertised this, but she downplayed that it meant getting into the school. The whole friend group showed up to support her — with Sahar revealing she is bisexual after Imogen tried to pin the “ally” label on her as the newer friend in the group — as she unveiled the painting, a gorgeous mural of her with Tao, Charlie and Isaac at school, titled “Safe Space.” The art teacher revealed that Elle would be joining them in the fall after another student expressed excitement that Elle would be joining them for the next school year.

Tao reacted visibly sadly, but he held it together at the art exhibition. Ben confronted Charlie in an attempt to apologize for what he did during Season 1, but Charlie told him that sorry wasn’t enough. Ben also revealed that he wouldn’t be returning for sixth form at Truham.

The Dinner Party At Nick’s

Nick’s father had informed him that he would stop by London for a business trip, suggesting that he come over for dinner. Soon enough, Charlie’s whole family was invited as well, although Stephane still didn’t know that Nick was dating Charlie. At the dinner, David kept prodding at Nick and Charlie until Nick decided to tell his dad that he and Charlie are boyfriends. Stephane made a cruel remark to David that Sarah Nelson (Olivia Colman) reacted to by saying he couldn’t say such things as an absent parent of the boys. The dinner did win Charlie’s parents over, and Tori (Jenny Walser) also got revenge on David by kicking his phone down the stairs as he complained about Nick’s drama over Facetime to a friend.

Darcy’s Home Life Gets Spotlight

As hinted earlier on in the show, Darcy’s mother doesn’t approve of her being lesbian, even though Darcy hasn’t officially come out to her parents. Tara suggested that Darcy buy a suit for Prom, and the friend group chipped in money to help out, but her mother told her she couldn’t wear it. That night, she ran away from home.

Prom

The day of Prom, Nick came out on Instagram, posting a photo of him and Charlie cuddling with the caption “boyfriends <3 (I’m bi, actually).” A stressed Tara messaged the friend group to ask for help for setting up for Prom because it wasn’t going well. Darcy never shows, and only when Tara goes to her house to try and find her does Darcy show up to the dance. Tara experiences Darcy’s mother, who she hadn’t met until that night.

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The friend group left to have an after-party of sorts at Nick’s house, where Darcy and Tara chat about what happened. Darcy had also previously ignored that Tara said “I love you” to her, but she vowed to say it more.

That night, Nick again broaches the subject of Charlie’s anxiety and gently asks him about the bullying he experienced after someone overheard Tao talking to Isaac about the fact that Charlie was gay. Charlie confessed to Nick that it was hard on him and that at one point, it would make him self-harm. Nick asked Charlie if he could promise to tell Nick if it ever got that bad again, and Charlie reluctantly agreed.

The finale of Season 2 ended with Nick almost saying “I love you” to Charlie and then Charlie wanting to type it out to Nick on his walk home.

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