Heartstopper spoilers follow.
Heartstopper writer Alice Oseman has revealed why a key character was removed from the show.
The new LGBTQ+ drama series has been adapted from Oseman's popular teen web comic and graphic novel series and premiered on Netflix yesterday (April 22).
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Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Oseman explained how she had to tweak the original story to accommodate the televised timeline and why Aled was ultimately cut from the series.
"When writing the show, one thing I had to do was kind of expand the story, because Heartstopper, being a graphic novel, is quite short, really. There's not a lot of story in there," she began.
Related: Heartstopper season 2 – everything you need to know
"So in the show, while we've stayed really true to the story in the books, we've expanded the world, and added lots of new elements and new, little storylines," she clarified.
Oseman added that Imogen played a pivotal part in reimagining that element halfway through the story.
"Imogen was a big part of that, adding a little bit of drama and tension kind of partway through the story," she said. "And Isaac is a little bit of that, but, for various complicated reasons, I had to take a character called Aled out of the books. And Isaac is kind of there to fulfil the role of him.
"Basically, long story short: Aled is a character in one of my other books, and so he has his own story. But with Isaac, a completely new story, I'm kind of free to do whatever I want with this character. So, yeah, it's just about expanding the world, and expanding the story."
Related: Heartstopper bosses explain how *that* surprise cameo happened
Elsewhere, a day after the series premiere, the show's star Joe Locke opened up about Charlie Spring's emotional breakdown in the series finale.
The scene finds Locke's character crying on his older sister Tori's shoulder as he blames himself for his boyfriend Nick's despondency.
"Jenny [Walser], who plays Tori, my sister, is just the most lovely, caring, warm person. And so I think doing the scene with her, we had a genuine brother/sister connection anyway. So that made it 10 times easier to get emotional.
"Our director, Euros [Lyn], I don't know how he did it. He just has this wonderful way of getting the right things out of us without pushing us to our extremes [...] I think Euros tried to make the set as comfortable and as at-ease as possible – especially in that scene, for me, while I was getting into the headspace," he added.
Heartstopper is now streaming on Netflix.
Hodder Children's Books Heartstopper Volume One by Alice Oseman
Hodder Children's Books Heartstopper Volume Two by Alice Oseman
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Hodder Children's Books Heartstopper Volume Four by Alice Oseman
Hodder Children's Books Heartstopper Volume 5 by Alice Oseman
HarperCollins Children's Books Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman
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Hodder Children's Books The Heartstopper Colouring Book by Alice Oseman
Hodder Children's Books The Heartstopper Yearbook by Alice Oseman
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
