Heartstopper season two teaser proves the ‘Nick Nelson effect’, fans say

Hype over the much-anticipated second series of Netflix hit Heartstopper continues to build, with the streaming giant sharing a new teaser from the first scene of the season on Saturday, along with the titles for all eight episodes landing on 3 August.

The teen drama - based on the webcomic and books of the same name by author Alice Oseman - follows the growing romance between Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), as well as the adventures of their friends Isaac (Tobie Donovan), Elle (Yasmin Finney), Darcy (Kizzy Edgell), Tara (Corinna Brown) and Tao (William Gao).

The first series of the TV adaptation received widespread praise by critics, audiences and politicians alike when it dropped in April 2022, to the extent it was renewed for not one, but two seasons a month later.

Warning: The rest of this article contains spoilers for the first series of Heartstopper.

The last time we saw Nick and Charlie, they had started calling each other boyfriends, Nick came out to his mum (Olivia Colman) and went public with the fact that they were dating and very much in love.

Now, in the first scene from season two, we see that that’s still the case, as a smitten Charlie wakes up to a message from Nick on Instagram with the iconic word from the franchise: “Hi.”

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As Charlie gets ready for school, the text conversation continues, with Locke’s character messaging back with “hi” and asking “does being boyfriends mean we do good morning texts now”.

Nick replies: “Does that technically qualify as a ‘good morning text.’

“Because technically all I said was ‘hi’.”

Smiling as he puts on his white collared shirt, Charlie messages back: “It was first thing in the morning so I think it qualifies.

“Good morning boyfriend.”

It then cuts to Charlie eating breakfast as the conversation continues with Nick asking: “And what else might be in the small print of this job description?”

“Hmmmm … Kissing me many times per day,” types Charlie.

Checking his phone as he walks down the corridor and into the classroom, Charlie wonders where Nick is before two hands are placed over his eyes from behind by Connor’s character.

They both exchange the “hi” line in person, and that’s where the teaser ends.

Adorable.

And with the fandom going into overdrive online, viewers have drawn comparisons between Charlie’s behaviour at the beginning of series one and what we see in the teaser, dubbing it “the Nick Nelson effect”:

To recap, the very first episode revealed Charlie was in a difficult relationship with a boy named Ben Hope (Sebastian Croft), who wanted them to kiss in private and in secret.

Certainly a lot different from his current out and proud romance with Nick Nelson, then.

As for the episode titles, the eight instalments are called “Out”, “Family”, “Promise”, “Challenge”, “Heat”, “Truth/Dare”, “Sorry” and “Perfect”.

Now you know.

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