Heartstopper Season 3 Photos At Last Reveal The Introduction Of [Spoiler] — But With A Twist

With less than three months until the Thursday, Oct. 3, release of Heartstopper Season 3, Netflix on Monday dropped more than a half-dozen new first-look photos. Included among them is a shot that reveals to devotees of Alice Oseman's graphic novels that we're finally getting to meet Charlie and Tori's kid brother, Oliver — except...

Now the character (played by mop-topped Jensen Clayden) isn't another Spring sibling. He "will be making a small but festive appearance... as a younger cousin of Tori and Charlie," Oseman tells Tudum. "I'm so excited for the fans of the show to meet this beloved character from the comics!"

Other new cast additions for Season 3 of the Emmy-winning LGBTQ+ romantic dramedy include Hayley Atwell (Conviction) as Nick's Aunt Diane, Jonathan Bailey (Fellow Travelers) as Instagram-famous classicist Jack Maddox, Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan) as Charlie's therapist Geoff and Darragh Hand as Michael Holden, who features prominently in Oseman's Tori-centric Solitaire novel. MIA this go-round will be Olivia Colman, who was unable to reprise her role of Nick's bloody awesome mum, Sarah. 

"Season 2 ended with Nick beginning to understand the extent of Charlie's mental health issues, and it's this that will drive the story through Season 3," Oseman tells Tudum. "While Heartstopper will always celebrate the joyful and point towards hope, I'm really excited that we are allowing the tone of the show to mature alongside our beloved characters growing up. Mental health, sex, university ambitions and more: Nick, Charlie and the Heartstopper teens are getting older, learning more about themselves and each other, and experiencing new desires, new fears and new joys as they approach adulthood."

And we are here for it. Take a look below at the new pics. (Our only complaint: No Nellie!)

We're going to stick our necks out giraffe style and suggest that it looks like business as usual for the Truham-Higgs kids, at least in this shot.

As always, Tori (Jenny Walser) is there for troubled brother Charlie (Joe Locke). At times literally.

Guess we haven't seen the last of the moves that Elle Argent (Yasmin Finney) and Tao Xu (William Gao) busted out at Season 2's prom.

The trauma that led to Charlie's eating disorder and bouts of self-harm may not be as resolved as he'd have liked to have thought.

Boyfriend of the Millennium Nick Nelson (Kit Connor) looks understandably concerned. If Charlie is hurting, so is Nick.

With Darcy Olsson (Kizzy Edgell) having gotten over her difficulty saying those three little words in Season 2, she and Tara Jones (Corinna Brown) continue to look what the former would call "suspiciously couple-y."

Despite everything that he's dealing with, Charlie still provides a shoulder to lean on — or would it be the reverse here? — to pal Isaac Henderson (Tobie Donovan) as he comes to grips with his sexual identity.

All's well that ends well so long as Season 3 concludes with Nick and Charlie gazing at one another as dreamily as this. Are they ready for "the next step" that Locke hinted to TVLine was coming? (Watch above.)

Charlie and Tori's baby brother (Jensen Clayden) is every bit as adorable as we expected him to be. What we didn't expect was that the character would be turned into the Spring sibs' cousin!