‘Heartstopper Forever’: Nick & Charlie’s Break Up and 7 More Book Changes
Heartstopper Forever is finally here, and we need to debrief! The franchise’s film finale follows the plot of Alice Oseman‘s Heartstopper Volume 6, but there are some key differences between the movie and the graphic novel. (Warning: Heartstopper Forever and Heartstopper Volume 6 spoilers ahead!)
Heartstopper Forever provides a happily ever after for beloved couple Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), along with the rest of the Truham-Higgs gang, including Elle Argent (Yasmin Finney) and Tao Xu (William Gao).
While Heartstopper Volume 6 sees these characters reaching the same endgame, how they get there is a little bit different. Here’s the biggie: Charlie and Nick don’t break up in the graphic novel.
Scroll to say “hi” to all of the major Heartstopper Forever additions, subtle changes, and key moments from the graphic novel that we don’t see.
Movie: Imogen’s storyline
As fans of the original series know, Imogen (Rhea Norwood) is not a character in the graphic novels. For that reason, Imogen is not seen with the rest of the friend group in the illustrations from the graphic novel during the credits. (Those drawings had us in tears, by the way!) We were thrilled to see a conclusion to her and Nick’s storyline, even if it was an addition to the original story. Any lingering Imogen x Sahar (Lelia Khan) shippers out there? Same.
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Book: Darcey gets kicked out
An early scene in the graphic novel that we don’t see is Darcy (Kizzy Edgell) getting kicked out of their house after getting a masc haircut, and then coming out as non-binary to their friends. This actually happened in Season 3 of Heartstopper, following Edgell’s own coming out.
At the time, Oseman told PinkNews, “I reached out to Kizzy and was like, ‘Are you comfortable playing Darcy? What can we do to make you feel more comfortable in this role on set?’ In that conversation, we discussed the idea of Darcy going on a similar kind of journey, exploring being non-binary.” This time around, it was the graphic novel that followed suit.
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Book: Nick’s rugby fight
While Nick still gets into a fight during a rugby match in Heartstopper Forever, the stakes are much higher in the graphic novel. Nick is at a point of high stress, so he ends up getting pretty aggressive with the other team. One of his competitors asks him, “What’s your f**king problem?” Then the competition turns to one of his teammates and calls Nick a slur. This is what instigates Nick’s fight and lands him in the ER. In the novel, he ends up getting benched for a few games.
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Movie: Charlie and Nick break up
One place where the stakes are massively raised in the movie is the tension between Charlie and Nick. In the graphic novel, these two have some major growing pains, with Nick worrying about leaving Charlie for college, and Charlie worrying that he can’t support Nick emotionally when Nick tries to be his perfect Prince Charming. While the two don’t break up, we still cried watching them struggle.
In the movie, this tension leads to Charlie telling Nick they might need some space and Nick asking Charlie, “So, we should break up then?” While Charlie does not want to break up, the two leave alone and fall out of each other’s lives, both struggling to stay afloat without the other.
The thesis of Charlie and Nick’s finale remains the same: Young love often doesn’t last. To prove that what Charlie and Nick have is truly different from other relationships, it’s clear that they need to go through a real test. With limited screen time, the movie needed to raise the stakes.
Movie: Elle’s pre-Pride speech
Snaps go out to Yasmin Finney for giving one of the two most moving monologues in the film that didn’t exist on the page. (Find our other favorite below!) When Charlie argues that he isn’t up to going to Pride while grieving his relationship, Elle tells him why this year’s march is so important.
She explains, “I’m f**king scared. The world hates me right now. The government is taking away my rights and everything we fought for. If I was a few years younger, I wouldn’t even have been able to take hormone blockers legally, ’cause they banned them.
“People don’t want me using public bathrooms or existing at all,” she continues. “I just want to be myself. To be free. To be happy… I’m terrified all the time, and I just really need my best friends with me to march at Pride, okay?” This message is more important than ever, so we were thrilled that Nick and Charlie’s split opened the door for it to come to life on-screen.
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Book: Nick and David’s resolution
In the movie, Nick tells his brother, David (Jack Barton), that he doesn’t think he should go to Paris to live with their dad. In the novel, their conversation is far more loaded. Nick tells David, “Am I supposed to be sad? You bullied me throughout our entire childhood?”
“You can think I’m evil all you want,” David responds. “Maybe I am, I dunno. I know how you think — [Dad and I] have to be perfect or we’re worthless. Just us two, though. You don’t hold Mum or Charlie to that standard because you know in your heart it’s bulls**t. But I accept that sometimes people are s**t. Sometimes I’m s**t. Sometimes nothing works out, and everything ends. I don’t put on a smile and pretend… I’m not like [Dad]. I’m trying not to be. He hurt me too.”
Movie: Tori comes out as asexual
Tori has a far bigger role in Heartstopper Forever than she does in the book. You know when we mentioned that another cast member gave a show-stopping monologue? For that title, we’re raising our cup (and straw) to Jenny Walser, whose character Tori poignantly came out as asexual to Charlie in the movie.
When Charlie tells Tori that she and Michael (Darragh Hand) are very cute “for a straight couple,” she asks, “Since when are we straight? I’m surprised you didn’t notice with Michael. He’s always going on about Pedro Pascal or whatever… You know I’m asexual, don’t you?”
Apparently, Charlie did know his famously reserved sister was ace. She tells him, “Could’ve sworn I told you that.” Then, Charlie asks why she and Michael are together since they’re “basically opposites.” Tori responds, “We’re together because we’re together. Because we’re Tori and Michael. And… we’re happy together. That’s all there is. Whether it’s romance or friendship or whatever, that’s everyone else’s problem. Maybe our together isn’t the same as your together or the normal sort of together, but it’s ours, and we’re happy with it.”
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Book: Mr. Farouk & Mr. Ajayi get engaged
Our last major change comes from everyone’s favorite teachers, Mr. Farouk (Nima Taleghani) and Mr. Ajayi (Fisayo Akinade). In the movie, these two reveal that they’re dating, but in the book they have a far bigger announcement: They’re engaged! At the Leavers’ Ball, they subtly show off their engagement rings and, of course, everyone spots their new bling right away. Personally, we’re accepting this one as movie canon as well, assuming this happens right after the epilogue.
Did we miss your favorite book-to-screen change between Heartstopper Volume 6 and Heartstopper Forever? Sound off in the comments below!
Heartstopper Forever, Streaming Now, Netflix
