In Heartstopper Season 1, rugby-loving Nick Nelson (Kit Connor) and sweet Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) formed an unlikely friendship that quickly developed into an unexpected slow-burn romance that had us all falling in love. The British coming-of-age story gave us a front-row seat to the group of friends’ messy, unique, and painfully-relatable journey of self-discovery, self-acceptance, and the uniquely complicated experience of high school, and after watching, fans were left yearning for more shows like Heartstopper to get the same vibes.
With Season 2 out on Netflix on Aug. 3, fans can expect to dig even deeper into the lives of Charlie, Nick, and their circle of friends as they face unforeseen challenges, navigate new relationships, juggle high school exams and prom, and take a journey onto the next stages of love, friendships, and life — oh yes, and Paris!
After finishing all of Season 2, I was itching to find some similar fun, romantic, and drama-filled series, and films to fill the void and rounded up a list of five shows and movies like Heartstopper you’re not going to want to miss!
- Sex Education on Netflix
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Sex Education shows us the awkward and cringeworthy moments that teenagers experience both in their heads and IRL on-screen in this dynamic teen series filled with a diverse cast of queer characters exploring the ever-dreaded adolescent experience. The show brings light to a collection of complex issues high schoolers face as we watch Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) use his knowledge, gained from his sex therapist mother, to help his classmates better understand their confusing and convoluted lives.
- Atypical on Netflix
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Atypical follows a slow-burn plot similar to Heartstopper as we accompany main character Sam Gardner’s (Keir Gilchrist) younger sister Casey (Brigette Lundhy-Paine) on her unexpected journey. Casey is living every teenage girl’s dream, dating the boy next door and skating through high school cool, calm, and collected, until she realizes she has a crush on her classmate Izzie (Fivel Stewart) and their relationship slowly blossoms into something more than she can fathom.
- Love, Victor on Hulu
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Inspired by and set in the same world as the award-winning film Love, Simon, Love, Victor tells the story of new Creekwood High School student, Victor Salazar (Michael Cimino), as he faces challenges at home, and struggles with his sexual orientation and high school relationships. When he reaches a point in his journey when it seems too difficult to handle, he seeks comfort and advice from Love, Simon’s Simon Spier (Nick Robinson), and sets out on the path to navigating his coming out story, challenging times with his family, and understanding his own feelings about himself, his life, and all of the people in it.
- Alex Strangelove on Netflix
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Alex Strangelove gives a refreshing, relatable, and realistic perspective into the complex journey of self-discovery, questioning your sexuality, and navigating the complicated things that come along with coming out. As best friends, Alex Truelove (Daniel Doheny) and Claire (Madeline Weinstein) agree to date each other and take each other’s virginity, the romantic idea turns catastrophic after Alex meets openly gay Elliot (Antonio Marziale) at a party and everything changes. Alex is tasked with the impossible choice of deciding whether to follow through with the hotel getaway he and Claire have planned or break her heart and give attention to the nagging thoughts that he may be queer.
- Good Trouble on Hulu
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The Fosters spin-off Good Trouble follows Callie (Maia Mitchell) and Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) Adams Foster as they take on Los Angeles to begin their lives as young adults and are introduced to a world of troublesome and tangled challenges and realistic experiences. The show not only takes on the complexity of new and old relationships, understanding your sexuality, and building genuine friendships, but also the real-world struggles of racism, the corporate world, the impact of political decisions, and so much more. Although the show has a more sophisticated approach to the topics in Heartstopper, it’s a perfect title to dive into if you’re looking for an adult version of the real-world subjects the other shows first introduced.
These titles should hold you over for quite some time, but if you’re saving them for after you finish Season 2, for now, enjoy every single “Hi” from Season 1 of Heartstopper.