Already established as a long running web comic and book series, Heartstopper by Alice Oseman gained major traction after being picked up by Netflix in 2021. Over the past 5 years, the first 5 graphic novels have been adapted for screen over 3 seasons, with each season spanning 8 episodes.

Heartstopper Forever was announced in 2025, and would act as a finale for the show, covering the events of the final graphic novel as well as the Nick and Charlie Novella. Though lucky to be able to wrap up the story of these characters, I feel like making this a film instead of a series was a major reason for not giving this a higher rating.

Don’t get me wrong, this film does a lot of things right. The portrayal of a young, queer relationship that deals with miscommunications and the worries that come with moving away for uni was done really well. I will always be grateful to Heartstopper for being one of the first mainstream pieces of media to focus purely on a young, teen, queer relationship. This movie is more mature than the show, however, there’s drinking and sex and it is a nice development from the innocence we saw early in the show as it feels like really authentic growth from the characters. A standout scene for me was a powerful monologue from Yasmin Finneys character Elle that highlighted the current struggles for transgender people in the UK, which was followed by a pride parade.

Both Joe Locke and Kit Connor were standouts for me in Heartstopper Forever and you can tell they’ve put everything into these characters over the years. That being said, Kit Connor did an incredible job at portraying insecurity and anxiety in Nick and I would’ve loved to see that developed in more depth during the film.

Overall I think Nick and Charlies story was concluded pretty well, and I was mostly happy with how that part of the film played out, However, due to the lack of screen time this movie had compared to the seasons, it felt more like it was Nick and Charlie focused rather than the ensemble cast we are used to. I would’ve loved for them to explore the end of Tao and Elles relationship in more detail, as well as Imogens coming out story, as that felt rushed and almost unnoticed. I know there is only so much they can do when their 8 episode seasons get cut to a 2 hour film, but I would’ve really liked to have seen a bit more from the other characters we have got to know and love over the past 5 years.

Overall, this franchise is extremely special to me, and I know it is to a lot of others as well. I am very happy it was given a proper conclusion, though like many others I wish it had been renewed for a fourth season instead of a film. Kit Connor and Joe Locke were incredible as always and although it wasn’t everything the fans wanted, I think it was a good ending to a really impactful franchise.