Netflix surprises its viewers with a new British series, “Heart Stopper” starring Joe Locke playing Charlie Spring and Kit Connor acting as Nick Nelson. The show became a hit with the LGBTQ+ community because of the inclusivity it maintained with queer couples, yet the show also displayed an accurate representation of what queer teens and adults experience when figuring out their own sexuality or gender identity. 

The show tracks three stories that intertwine, with Charlie Springs and Nick Nelson as the main characters of the story. It displays how they met and fell in love, along with the controversy they face for it and their inevitable peaceful end. This side of the narrative became the most popular with fans, mostly for the common message it withheld: identifying as queer and society making it difficult for them to just exist.  

Before “Heart Stopper” became a show, it existed in the unknown world of WebToon and Tumblr. The release of physical copies made the series much more widespread, along with its original comic book origins. When Netflix caught onto the series, they acquired distribution rights and thereafter collaborated with See-Saw Films, who recently bought the television rights.  

“I really enjoyed the comics, they added originality to the series in general. part of the actual show had animated leaves symbolizing their love blossoming, and it was a big aspect in the comics so I love that they added that. Alice Oseman created a whole universe for queer teens to exist in and it’s perfect,” freshman Summer Rain Mathis said. 

The series, written by Alice Oseman, contained multiple volumes with enough content to release a second season. If Netflix decides to renew the series for a second season, yet another bomb will shake the social media world. 

The show, produced in Herne Bay, made its way to TikTok and Instagram where fans immediately began talking about it. The statistics for the show revealed that viewers watched more than 23 million hours within the first week, which roughly equates to 2,625 years. This alone displays the explosion of popularity that “Heart Stopper” dropped when it was released. 

“Love, Simon”, the only other popular movie that became mainstream and contained queer elements, focuses on the discovery of Simon’s sexuality, making his “coming out” a huge factor in the movie. Yet discovering one’s sexuality, while difficult, will not become the highlight of any queer teen or young adult’s life. “Heart Stopper” showed Charlie and Elle and Tao displaying complete comfort with their sexuality and gender identity. 

“Young Royals”, another show like “Heart Stopper”, enamored fans with the first season, starring Edvin Ryding playing Wilheim and Omar Rudberg playing Simon who fell in love after Prince Wilheim’s transfer to a Royal Academy. This show exploded similar to “Heart Stopper”, with just enough attention for the series renewal. 

“I really liked both of these shows, they really put queer representation into mainstream media, which is exactly what the LGBTQ+ community has been needing. I can’t wait for more series to come out like this, and for the continuation of both of these. It really has been a hurdle in the film industry for a long time, and it is finally being fixed,” Mathis said.