The third season of Heartstopper premiered on October 3 on Netflix, and as promised, we had some special guest stars, including Hayley Atwell, Eddie Marsan, and Jonathan Bailey. The Bridgerton star has been a fan of the teen romance since its premiere in 2022. We look at how he manifested his role in the series; creator Alice Oseman revealed how his scene was crafted on set. Read on to find out more about his Heartstopper cameo.
Jonathan Bailey on being a Heartstopper fan
On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Bailey shared that he was drawn instantly to the show starring Kit Connor and Joe Locke as teen couple Nick and Charlie, respectively. He recalled, “When I saw Heartstopper, I just thought it’s quite full circle when we started talking about stories that we had growing up. And the one story that we definitely didn’t have is Heartstopper, showing positive, aspirational, gay teenage love stories. For me, I’m 15 years older than the cast and the stories that are being told… I found it incredibly melancholic. What a brilliant thing, no matter what happens, that the next generation has that. The actors are so knockout that people see it as a teen drama.”
He knew Heartstopper executive producer Patrick Walters through a mutual friend and shared his enthusiasm for the show. Bailey added, “If there’s anything ever… I would have served tea on set. I can’t say enough how brilliant I thought it was.” Earlier this year, it was announced that Bailey would join the cast as Charlie’s celebrity crush and play classics author Jack Maddox.
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Alice Oseman on Bailey's cameo
The character of the historian first appeared in Oseman’s mini comic; they had to change his name from Henry Maddox to Jack so fans wouldn’t be confused with Nick’s new dog in season 3, a pug who is also named Henry. Bailey dropped by on the Heartstopper set for one day only, and Oseman, who also writes the screenplays, had to create additional lines for him on set.
In an interview withDeadline, Oseman revealed, “We hadn’t actually scripted very much for him to say, and when we were on set, we realized, ‘Oh, we need him to say a little bit more.’ So I had to, on the day, on set, I wrote him like, a full paragraph of stuff to say about ancient history and literature sort of give that to him and be like, ‘I’m so sorry. Please learn this paragraph right now.’ He was very happy to do that, so I was very grateful for that. He brought a lot of joy and brightness to set that day, which was lovely.”
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Bailey is playing Fiyero in the upcoming musicalWicked; he will return as Anthony Bridgerton on the fourth season of the Netflix romance. The actor is also filming with Scarlett Johansson onJurassic World Rebirth.