Binged ‘Heartstopper’ Season 2? 10 Other LGBTQ+ YA Shows to Check Out
Once you catch up with Truham Grammar School lovebirds Nick (Kit Connor) and Charlie (Joe Locke), the real Heartstopper might be that you’ll have to wait (at least) months for the third season of the Netflix series.
Heartstopper’s second season dropped on Thursday, August 3, and Season 3 isn’t on the schedule yet. But that third go-round is coming: Netflix ordered both seasons in one fell swoop last year.
We’re happy to say, though — gay to say, even — that there are plenty more LGBTQ+ television series to binge-watch, many of which center on young people coloring outside the heteronormative, cisnormative lines. Here are some highlights.
Atypical
This coming-of-age Netflix drama features Keir Gilchrist navigating life as a teen on the autism spectrum as younger sister Casey (played by nonbinary actor Brigette Lundy-Paine) determines her place on the Kinsey scale. TV Insider’s Matt Roush said that he had “fallen hard for everyone on this show” by the end of Season 1.
Everything’s Gonna Be Okay
Josh Thomas plays a gay entomologist who, through a twist of fate, ends up raising his two half-sisters with the help of boyfriend Alex (Adam Faison). Roush deemed the Freeform show (now streaming on Hulu) “silly, sweet, poignant, and unapologetic in its saucy sex-positive attitudes.”
Generation
Now available on Tubi after being pulled from Max, Generation stars Justice Smith, Chase Sui Wonders, and other young actors as Orange County high schoolers exploring their sexualities in a conservative environment. The Boston Globe hailed it as “an astute drama-comedy featuring well-drawn characters.”
Heartbreak High
The students at an Australian high school are shocked to discover scandalous graffiti artfully displayed on a wall: a map of the student body’s relationships and hookups. The Age said the Netflix show “is wild, fun, moving, and bound to be shocking to some viewers — exactly what a drama about teenagers should be.”
High School
Based on the youths of Canadian pop duo Tegan and Sara — both of whom are openly gay — this Freevee comedy-drama tracks twin sisters’ journey of self-discovery during the grungy 1990s. It’s a “moody and touching tale of queer adolescence told with artful simplicity and excellent 90s alt-rock,” said Entertainment Weekly.
Love, Victor
The story of the film Love, Simon continues with this Hulu series, as a new Creekwood student comes to terms with being gay… and Victor (Michael Cimino) isn’t the only one with a coming-out journey. “It’s a well-crafted teen soap, with a few clever wrinkles and a winning cast,” CNN declared.
Never Have I Ever
Though the core of this comedy-drama is the heterosexual Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and her Indian-American family, one of Devi’s best friends explores same-sex attraction for the first time. (Never has she ever, one might say.) News.com.au called the Netflix show “an absolute charmfest, a perfectly balanced cocktail of wry humour, laugh-out-loud moments and emotionally poignant beats.”
Sex Education
Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) knows all about the sex lives of his classmates at Morale Secondary School — mostly because he has followed his mother into the sex-therapy biz in this Netflix series. “As an anatomy of teen sexuality, it’s basically peerless, and it offers a thoughtful script, a strikingly good cast, and a heart-forward story about ‘owning your narrative,’” said Paste.
Sort Of
This Peabody Award-winning Max series stars co-creator Bilal Baig as Sabi, a nonbinary Pakistani-Canadian nanny deciding what course to chart for their life. “Sweet but tart, their story is both highly personal and universal, about finding your place in the world while everyone else around you is also struggling to do the same,” said The Chicago Tribune.
Young Royals
Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding), heir to the Swedish throne, falls for classmate Simon (Omar Rudberg) in this royally dramatic Netflix teen series. “This is gayboy soap opera at its sudsiest, and creators Lisa Ambjörn, Lars Beckung and Camilla Holter know when to pour in the drama bubbles,” observed Edge Media Network.
