Kit Connor Reveals How Heartstopper Season 3 Offers A Different Take On Queer Sex
Kit Connor has claimed the new season of Heartstopper offers a fresh perspective compared to the queer sex often depicted on screen.
Much has already been made of the fact that the Netflix teen drama’s upcoming third season sees central couple Charlie and Nick taking their relationship to the next level physically.
Speaking on the Radio Times Podcast about what fans should expect, the Emmy winner insisted that the show’s new sex scenes are still done in “a very Heartstopper way”.
He explained: “The focus is on the difficulties of knowing when you’re ready and what it is to be a young queer person.
“There isn’t as much representation in the industry of queer sex and often it’s represented as being much more advanced and very highly sexualised. This is really sweet and tender.”
Author Alice Oseman – who wrote the original books on which the show is based, as well as every episode of the TV version – said they think it will be “really helpful” for Heartstopper’s viewers to see a young couple “who don’t immediately rush into having sex”.
Alice – who is asexual and aromantic – said: “I think teenagers today have so much pressure on them to have sex as early as possible. It feels like everyone’s doing it. The internet is saying you should be doing it. Lots of teen media says you should, too!
“In Heartstopper, it takes longer for Nick and Charlie. That’s a really nice alternative vision for young people. The storyline about sex in season three is very focused on the emotional side – the characters are asking questions like, ‘Am I ready to have sex? How do I know if my partner is also ready? What if it’s really awkward and embarrassing because I don’t know what I’m doing?’”
“Hopefully that will be relatable for a lot of young people,” they added.
In a recent interview with HuffPost UK, Kit and co-star Joe Locke revealed they’d worked with intimacy co-ordinator David Thackeray – whose credits include The White Lotus, It’s A Sin and Sex Education – on their upcoming sex scenes.
“We felt comfortable anyway, because we know each other so well, but he made it feel comfortable being in a room with other people – as few people as possible, but still people – and trying to make it look good for the camera,” Joe said.
Joe added to Radio Times: “We choreographed it like a dance, but with sex positions. We went in knowing what we were doing, so [we] felt comfortable.”
Speaking to HuffPost UK earlier this year, Kit said the scenes required “about seven hours straight of just shagging”, which he joked “was pretty fun”.
Read more of Kit Connor, Joe Locke and Alice Oseman’s interviews in the new issue of Radio Times, on sale now. Heartstopper season three arrives on Netflix on Thursday 3 October.