Heartstopper star Yasmin Finney spills details of Elle’s season two journey
Yasmin Finney and William Gao in Heartstopper. (Netflix)
Heartstopper star Yasmin Finney has revealed intimate details of the season two storyline for her character, trans schoolgirl Elle Argent, at an exclusive showcase for Netflix.
Speaking on a panel alongside The Witcher star Joey Batey and Claudia Harrison, who stars in The Crown as Princess Anne, the 19-year-old actress was quizzed on the season two future of her Heartstopper fan-favourite Yasmin and expected love interest Tao Xu, played by William Gao.
A highly-anticipated teaser video for season two of Heartstopper was released on Monday (24 April), featuring Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), sending the internet into a tailspin.
When asked if Elle and Tao have a romantic future – “do you, don’t you” – Finney replied: “We actually don’t kiss, that’s the sad thing.
“I can’t spill too much information but what you should know is our relationship definitely blossoms into something beautiful, which is very amazing to say – finally. But it’s very exciting. Elle and Tao is something that’s been a rollercoaster of emotions – just the journey from season one to season two.”
Addressing the gargantuan runaway success of the show, based on the graphic novels of the same name by Alice Oseman, Finney joked: “It’s like water off a duck’s back!”
She continued: “It’s not easy, at all, having this overnight… fame, I guess? But I think we’re all coping. We all lean on each other. We barely hit puberty, all of the cast, but we’re just taking every day as it comes. I’m really proud of all of us, we’re really killing it.”
After showing a sneak peak of season two – including the cast climbing Eiffel Tower in Paris, set to the music of French trans artist Christine and the Queens – Yasmin explained: “It was the coldest day I ever experienced in my life [when we shot that scene in Paris]. That was the main thing for everyone, the freezing cold. As soon as they said ‘cut’, it was coats on.”
And musing on Heartstopper‘s representation, Finney said: “I think Heartstopper is so special because it’s brought a community of people together – from different backgrounds, different genders, sexualities, all together on one show. It really shows every kind of person and it’s a place for equality. It’s escapism and it’s home and it’s… powerful, and that’s why it’s done so well.
“Representation is still something we’re working on in this industry and I don’t know if we’re there yet – I’m still waiting for my role that isn’t trans! But I’m not going to complain for more trans roles, obviously. I think representation is so important because if I didn’t have representation growing up, I probably wouldn’t have thought I’d be here – but I had Laverne Cox, I had Pose, I had representation from a young age.
“Representation is such a powerful thing and all it takes is for someone to look like you, act like you, have the same voice, same style, same belief, on screen, and that’s it. It’s inspiring, it’s powerful and it’s the future.”
Heartstopper season two premieres on Netflix on 3 August.
Who will feature in Heartstopper season two?
All of the main cast will return for season two, including Kit Connor, Joe Locke, Yasmin Finney and Corinna Brown.
Fellow cast members Rhea Norwood, William Gao, Tobie Donovan, Sebastian Croft and Olivia Coleman will also return; they play Imogen, Tao, Isaac, Ben and Sarah Nelson (Nick’s mother), respectively.
New cast members will include Jack Barton as David Nelson – Nick’s homophobic older brother. Elsewhere, Leila Khan has been cast as Higgs student Sahar Zahid (a classmate of Finney’s Elle).
Bradley Riches will play James McEwan, a student at Nick and Charlie’s school, Truman.
British theatre star Nima Taleghani will be playing new Truman teacher Mr Farouk. Oseman described how Farouk has an “interesting friendship” with fellow teacher Mr Ajayi (Fisayo Akinade) which “eventually becomes something more”.
TikTok star Bel Priestly has also teased her role as Naomi in season two of Heartstopper.
What will happen in season two?
Heartstopper season two will cover events seen in volume three of the Heartstopper graphic novels. Images of the cast filming in Paris surfaced onto the internet in October 2022 – in the books, the students of Truman take a school trip to the city in Volume 3.
“Season 2 is based on Volume 3,” Oseman told Netflix’s Tudum. “So we had a good foundation. But there’s not enough in the book to take a whole season of TV, so there had to be a lot of creation of new stuff.”
The writer added that 2022 saw “very intense summer of writing and getting the show together.”
Oseman has also teased various “surprises” for season two’s plot, touching touched on Isaac’s (Tobie Donovan) storyline and confirming that asexuality will be a big talking point.
How did this story make you feel?
