'Heartstopper helped me at quite a vulnerable point in my life' (original) (raw)

• Kizzy Edgell portrays Darcy Olsson in Heartstopper, and his gender journey was used as inspiration for his character coming out as non-binary in season three.
• The actor shares his experience as a queer person in the entertainment industry for Yahoo's interview series Queer Voices.
• Kizzy Edgell came out as transmasculine in 2023, and show creator Alice Oseman incorporated this into the Netflix adaptation of her comics.
• Heartstopper season three is out now on Netflix.

Heartstopper season three was definitely informed by my experience as a transmasculine person. It was a decision that we all sort of made together, we figured it would slot in quite well with Darcy's character to come out as non-binary.

It would mean that I spent more time feeling more comfortable and it felt really cathartic to live through something and to act in something that felt so truthful about the way I felt and the way I understood the world. Darcy and me are also really alike and working parts of my own story into Darcy has always been the way that we've worked with the characters, so it was it was a nice touch and I'm grateful that I got to do it in the new season.

The show has helped me find my footing in the world, I started the show in a really quite vulnerable point in my life and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself. I had no idea where things were going to go and having the show as a constant in my life has been really important to me.

Watch: Kizzy Edgell speaks to Yahoo UK for Queer Voices

The people I've met on and through the show, they're really important to me and I just feel so lucky that this is the way things went.

Alice [Oseman] and I spoke a lot throughout the filming of Heartstopper when I was coming out, when I was figuring things out for myself. Alice offered, right away, 'if there's anything we can change to make it more comfortable we can do that', and that was really sweet but I wasn't quite ready at that point to have it be so public.

Then as we got into season three, I was finding my footing a bit more, it didn't feel so new and scary. Darcy's gender journey is different from mine in quite a lot of ways, but it still feels really, really legitimate to me.

Kizzy Edgell portrays Darcy Olsson in Heartstopper, and his own gender journey was used as inspiration for his character coming out as non-binary in season three. (Netflix)

Alice was so gentle with how she approached Darcy figuring out her identity in season three, and she didn't make a big deal about it because I know Darcy doesn't want a big deal made about it. It's so nice and I love the conversation she has with Tara in episode seven about being non-binary. I feel like maybe Tara knew Darcy was non-binary before Darcy did, it's so delicate and it's really nicely done.

My co-stars have also been lovely, they have helped me work out so many kinks in my life and I've been able to talk to them really quite honestly about decisions, or choices, or issues and they really feel like friends, like proper friends not just co-workers who are doing a job together.

It feels really, truly like we have each other's back for almost anything and they're really understanding and they know me. It's a nice feeling to be known and liked as well, we see each other in various states all the time — tired or angry or stressed — and we have a lot of patience for each other, that's really nice.

Kizzy Edgell shared his appreciation for Alice Oseman for being open to changing Darcy's storyline in the show, saying that while it 'is different' it still 'feels truthful'. (Netflix)

Heartstopper also explores the insanely huge rates of homelessness within the LGBTQ+ community through Darcy, it is way more common than it should be and the fact that Darcy's housing situation is so complicated is a really important question to deal with.

Read more: Heartstopper praised for 'respectful' portrayal of eating disorders

It makes me so happy that she's found somewhere to be in this season, to be with somebody like Tara and her grandmother, to be somewhere to call home. Because it's so difficult to work on things or deal with things when you don't feel secure or safe, and I'm glad that has been done that way for her.

I think representation is good, always, but I also think it's very important for me that kids can have conversations with their families and the people around them, and to demand the respect that they deserve. It's so easy to shrink yourself, and I am so glad that Darcy doesn't.

Role Models

Kizzy Edgell told Yahoo UK: 'Alice was so gentle with how she approached Darcy figuring out her identity in season three, and she didn't make a big deal about it.' (Yahoo)

Oscar Wilde is one of my main role models, he still is really important to me. There's this exhibition where they've got the door to his prison cell and that's shocking. I guess I would also say Joan of Arc, I don't think she's actually queer but in my mind she is.

In terms of queer shows and films I wish I had growing up, I liked Tipping the Velvet which has got Rachael Stirling in it, who plays Darcy's mother in the show. I like Steven Universe, of course I like Steven Universe!

There's also What We Do in the Shadows, Orange is the New Black, and But I'm a Cheerleader, I love that film so much and Natasha Lyonne is brilliant in it. There's a lot of queer content out there, it's not always super easily accessible, and a lot of it you have to search for, but it is there and queer content made by queer people is there. It's just about finding what you like in TV and film.

Making sure the trans kids are all right

Kizzy Edgell is keen to help trans youth like himself now, saying: 'It's a scary time and I feel like they need to know that it's not always been like this and it won't always be like this.' (Yahoo)

Queer people have been around forever. My main focus now is making sure that trans youth are okay, the ones that have been through a lot, who have been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

I just want to make sure the kids are all right and I think that's where the focus of my attention is right now, because it's a scary time and I feel like they need to know that it's not always been like this and it won't always be like this. They need to know that there are places and people that are welcoming and open to them, and that the world isn't always as scary as it seems right now.

There's more of a demand for queer stories now than there has been, I like seeing shows like ours in the mainstream instead of just on the fringes. That feels quite nice, but queer people have always been making amazing art, and usually the best kind.

Kizzy Edgell also praised his co-stars, adding: 'It feels really, truly like we have each other's back for almost anything and they're really understanding and they know me. It's a nice feeling to be known' (Netflix)

I think the future of queer storytelling is about finding people — finding each other in real life more and more is difficult, but I think is what's needed. I think it's also about understanding there isn't just one type of queer story, it doesn't have to just be a romance, it doesn't have to be trauma and pain either.

It's not always all about coming out, it's not always all about the things that you see in a lot of different types of media, every single queer story is interesting in its own right, every single person is interesting in the room. There's just so much to tell that I hope we get to.

Kizzy Edgell told his story to Roxy Simons.

Heartstopper season three is out now on Netflix.