We’re not crying, you are!
Olivia Colman is officially not returning for Heartstopper season 3 to reprise her role as Sarah, Nick’s (Kit Connor) mother. The Academy Award-winning actress played the character for two seasons, but she will not return for this upcoming third season.
Heartstopper author and showrunner Alice Oseman shared a series of Instagram stories to explain the situation. They wrote:
“As many of you have heard today, the wonderful Olivia Colman will not be returning to the show for season 3. We tried absolutely everything we could, but it wasn’t meant to be, and that’s just the way the TV world works sometimes. We are so deeply grateful to Olivia for the stunning performance she gave to the show and wish her the absolute best!”
Instagram (@aliceoseman)
“We did not re-cast Sarah, and I know many of you — comic fans especially — will be upset and concerned about how we will move forward without Nick’s mom,” Oseman went on. “I know there is one scene in particular that many of you have been looking forward to in season 3, and you may be feeling disappointed and disheartened with us. I totally understand — I was really worried too, when I first found out!”
Instagram (@aliceoseman)
The showrunner added, “If there is one thing I could ask of you, it’s to not give up on us quite yet. I have done everything in my power to preserve that scene as written in the comic, and I’ve written in some new elements of the story to ensure that it gives us the emotional punch that it gives in the comic.”
“And as for the rest of the season — please have faith!” Oseman continued. “Nick’s story from the comics is still there, still infinitely important to me, and Sarah’s role as emotional support for Nick will shift to other characters in the story for now. If we get a season 4, I would love for Olivia to be a part of it again!”
Instagram (@aliceoseman)
“Making a TV show sometimes has completely unavoidable challenges like this,” Oseman wrote in their final Instagram story. “All we can do in the face of such challenges is our best, and I mean it when I say that I love this season, I love this show, and I’m so proud of everyone involved.”
The writer concluded, “We’ve all worked really hard and I’m so excited for you to see what we’ve come up with, including a few new casting announcements to come in the next few weeks — some you may have heard about already, others that you haven’t yet...”
Instagram (@aliceoseman)
It’s disappointing to hear that Colman won’t be in this upcoming season of Heartstopper. However, the decision to not immediately recast the character — as well as Oseman expressing their wish for Colman to come back for a fourth season — does give us some insight that this was truly just a scheduling situation where the actress wasn’t able to film her scenes for the hit Netflix show.
For context, Colman is currently attached to three upcoming projects: Paddington in Peru (the third film in the Paddington series), Wicker, and Girl From the North Country. It stands to reason that Colman has been pretty busy as of late and she simply couldn’t fit Heartstopper into her schedule.
We’ll miss Olivia Colman as Sarah on our screens, but fingers crossed that this isn’t the end!
Heartstopper season 3 premieres in October 2024 on Netflix, where you can already stream the first two seasons of the series.
