Heartstopper Breakout Kit Connor Aims for Authenticity

Joining the cast of promising young actors, Connor plays Nick Nelson, a high school jock who begins to unearth his true feelings for protagonist Charlie Spring (Joe Locke), and with it, a reckoning of his friendships and sexuality. On a Zoom call from his home in the U.K., Connor tells W he is in the midst of studying for his Advanced Level qualifications, while sitting in front of a bright pink poster scribed with the words “Gonna Be Okay.” He shares a sense of immense gratitude for his Heartstopper role, adding that after originally auditioning for the part of Charlie, landing Nick turned out to be “a match made in heaven.”

Wearing a short-sleeved, beige button-up, Connor is relaxed and articulate. In our conversation, he embodies a level of introspection and self-reflection about his role and the landscape of queer representation in media that seems rare for such a young actor. When I tell him that Heartstopper made me feel very single as an elder Millennial, he jokes that this was the plan all along, for everyone to “feel very, very sad and jealous of Nick and Charlie”—and that it must be “bittersweet” for older queer viewers to experience Heartstopper when they were more limited in their options of queer-centric television growing up.

With the encouragement of his parents, who wanted their shy child to break out of his shell, acting was originally just a hobby for Connor. He booked his first role at eight years old, appearing initially in commercials and then film and television. In 2019, the actor gained some recognition for appearing as a young Elton John in the biopic Rocketman, while also starting to do some voiceover work. He admits that few may know he currently voices Pan on His Dark Materials, the shapeshifting mouse companion of protagonist Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen). “It always surprises them when they hear it, and then they can’t unhear it,” he jokes. (His Dark Materials is slated for a third and final season to be released later this year.)

According to Connor, Nick is one of the most relatable characters on Heartstopper, and one he was able to connect with on a personal level while preparing for the role. “On a wider scale, he goes through this mental turmoil and this internal struggle about his place in school and in society, his sexuality and the people he surrounds himself with,” Connor explains. “I can relate to Nick in so many ways, and so many experiences he has in the show I’ve literally experienced exactly that.”

As the series progresses, Nick gets closer not only to Charlie, but to an uplifting group of friends who identify as straight and queer, embracing him as one of their own. “The characters are so pure and it’s such a refreshing, positive, and optimistic take on life and queerness,” Connor notes. “I think that’s beautiful.”

A highlight of filming the series came when Connor spent two days working closely with prolific Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman. It was an experience he calls “absolute bliss” and “an honor.” Colman was recruited to play Nick’s caring mother, and the two actors share some of the most tender scenes in the season. “She’s such an effortlessly talented actor,” he gushes. “She’s so professional, yet also so calm and puts you at ease immediately, and knows exactly when to crack a joke.” While Connor says crying on cue doesn’t come to him easily, he was in awe of Colman’s mastery over her emotions and her ability to shift between them in a seemingly effortless way. That said, a scene in which Nick frantically Googles “Am I gay?” did yield a real tear from Connor, an experience viscerally realistic to the queer coming-of-age experience.

Heartstopper provides an example of positive queer representation for its youthful audience, and Connor says he wants the show to benefit both straight and queer viewers alike. He wants the series to be “a safe space for queer teens and adults, for the LGBTQIA+ community to feel safe and feel represented and feel loved,” he says, adding, “I hope we’ve done queerness justice.” But he also wants straight viewers to stick around to watch and enjoy queer characters in states of joy and love, rather than some of the darker subject matter—such as drugs and death—which can often lead the tone in queer storytelling.

On the other hand, though, boundaries are rarely respected online. “People can get a bit too comfortable on social media,” he says. “To speculate about a person’s sexuality is so dangerous, especially for someone at my age of 18, it’s a bit strange for me to see. If I haven’t said anything, you shouldn’t assume anything, but you also shouldn’t pressure me to tell people. It’s a very personal journey that people have to go on.”