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As the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes force many TV shows to press pause, season 3 of Netflix’s Heartstopper is seemingly still in development.
Creator Alice Oseman — who also wrote the graphic novels that inspired the show — offered a status update ahead of the August premiere of season 2.
“The Heartstopper Volume 5 publication date is moving to December 7th (UK/Ire/Aus/NZ) and December 19th (US)! The book is turning out longer than I anticipated, and I’m also hard at work this summer writing the scripts for season 3 of the Heartstopper TV show, so I realised I needed some extra time to finish drawing the book,” Oseman, 28, wrote via Instagram on Wednesday, July 19. “I’m so sorry that you have to wait a little longer but I promise it’ll be worth it! Thank you for supporting the series!”
While Oseman appears to be hard at work on new episodes, several showrunners have been taking a break to show solitary with entertainment unions. In May, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced their decision to strike after a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. (The AMPTP represents major companies such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony.)
Some TV shows — including Netflix’s Outer Banks — initially continued production with scripts which were presumably finished before the picket lines began. Earlier this month, however, SAG-AFTRA announced its own strike, leaving Hollywood at a standstill.
![Why Heartstopper Season 3 Is Presumably Still Being Written by Alice Oseman Amid WGA and SAG Strike 403](/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Why-Heartstopper-Season-3-Is-Presumably-Still-Being-Written-by-Alice-Oseman-Amid-WGA-and-SAG-Strike-403.jpg?w=1000&quality=86&strip=all)
Due to union regulations, actors who are part of SAG-AFTRA are restricted from filming new theatrical content during the strike. However, projects such as HBO’s House of the Dragon and Max’s Dune: The Sisterhood — which film in the U.K. and employ mainly U.K. actors — have been the exception to the rule. Instead of SAG-AFTRA, stars of the shows follow Equity guidelines and are prohibited from going on strike.
Heartstopper, meanwhile, is produced by British-Australian film and television production company See-Saw Films. The features a crop of U.K. stars, including Kit Connor, Joe Locke, William Gao, Yasmin Finney, Corinna Brown, Kizzy Edgell, Tobie Donovan, Rhea Norwood, Jenny Walser and Sebastian Croft.
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The TV adaptation, which premiered in April 2022, focuses on high school athlete Nick (Connor) as he starts to question his sexuality after developing a friendship with fellow student Charlie (Locke).
Oseman previously reflected on the importance of keeping the show lighthearted when it came to the LGBTQ representation.
“There’s a lot on TV now that has queer content, but it’s definitely for adults. A lot of queer stories are still very serious or focused on trauma,” the screenwriter told Netflix’s Tudum in April 2022, before addressing the show’s happy moments. “I always think a trope is a trope for a reason. Tropes can feel overused. But when it’s featuring marginalized characters, you probably haven’t seen that as much as you think you have.”
Season 2 of Heartstopper is set to premiere August 3 on Netflix.