{"id":13803,"date":"2022-04-13T13:24:19","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T11:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1626592"},"modified":"2022-04-13T13:46:09","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T11:46:09","slug":"heartstopper-boss-there-was-never-any-option-but-to-cast-authentically","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/heartstopper-boss-there-was-never-any-option-but-to-cast-authentically\/","title":{"rendered":"Heartstopper boss: \u201cThere was never any option but to cast authentically\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By David Craig\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 13 April 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The team behind Netflix\u2019s Heartstopper<\/a> have opened up on the exhaustive casting process behind the show, including the challenge of finding performers who could authentically represent characters from the graphic novels.<\/p>\n

Writer Alice Oseman penned the webcomic that inspired this much-anticipated young adult drama, with the story primarily focusing on the blossoming romance between schoolboys Nick Nelson (Kit Connor) and Charlie Spring (Joe Locke).<\/p>\n

However, the supporting cast features characters from across the LGBTQ+ community, in a move that makes this one of the more inclusive projects to land on streaming in recent memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that I wanted Heartstopper to have a diverse range of characters and it wasn\u2019t just focused on these two boys,\u201d Oseman said in an interview with Attitude<\/a>. \u201cLots of people were reading the story and I wanted people to feel they could see themselves in it.\u201d<\/p>

While there are examples in the past of straight actors being cast in LGBTQ+ roles and cisgendered people portraying trans characters, that idea was at no point considered for Heartstopper.<\/p>\n

Executive producer Patrick Walters explained: \u201cThere was never any option but to cast authentically. But there was also a worry if we\u2019d find these people, and we knew that if we didn\u2019t find them, we couldn\u2019t make the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the right people were found, with TikTok influencer Yasmin Finney tapped to play the role of Elle, a young trans woman who moves from an all-boys school to an all-girls school at the start of the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more that we can open up the doors for queer people, and for people who aren\u2019t cis then that\u2019s when we can have a more inclusive industry,\u201d Finney said.<\/p>\n