10 best shows like ‘Heartstopper,’ ranked
If I don’t get more shows like Heartstopper, my ticker will stop ticking. Netflix has yet to renew the heartwarming show for a fourth season, and unlike Celine Dion, I don’t think my heart can go on without more. What will I watch in the meantime? These 10 best shows like Heartstopper should do the trick.
10. Genera+ion
Despite only lasting for one season, Genera+ion is one of the best ensemble shows to tackle queer themes. It’s about a group of queer high schoolers who help each other survive in their conservative town. Like Heartstopper, it’s a show about the importance of queer friendships, and how sometimes family is the one you choose, not the people you’re related to by blood.
9. Atypical
Atypical centers around an autistic teenager named Sam, highlighting his successes and struggles in finding love and friendship. The series also revolves around Sam’s sister Casey, who comes to terms with her sexuality and enters into a lesbian relationship. It’s poignant, adorable, and ultimately a show about self-acceptance and growth.
8. Yuri!!! On ICE
If you love queer athletes like Heartstopper’s Nick, you’ll adore Yuri!!! On ICE. It’s the story of a Japanese figure skater named Yuri who suffers a crushing defeat at a national competition. He catches the eye of a famous Russian figure skater named Victor, who agrees to coach Yuri back to greatness. The pair begin to grow close on and off the ice, culminating in one of the best queer romances in anime history.
7. First Kill
First Kill is a show about stopping hearts, both romantically and mortally. The series centers around two teenage girls who find themselves on either side of the supernatural world. One comes from a line of vampires, the other, vampire hunters. Despite their differences, the pair form a forbidden sapphic relationship that’s sure to get your blood pumping.
6. Sex Education
When it comes to sex comedies, Sex Education might be the best on the market. The series revolves around a high schooler named Otis, the son of a famous sex therapist. Discovering that his strait-laced school is sorely in need of a sex education program, he decides to open a clinic and be the one to run it. Characters of all sexualities from all walks of life appear, and Otis painstakingly tries to assist them all.
5. Heartbreak High
A reboot of a 1994 Australian teen drama of the same name, Heartbreak High centers around a group of students who get into hot water after a school official finds a secret wall where their sexual escapades have been recorded. It’s essentially Sex Education if teen sex therapist Otis Milburn had never shown up at school, and shows the consequences of a world where queer teens are left without institutional support.
4. Young Royals
Young Royals is essentially Heartstopper with Swedish nobility. At the prestigious Hillerska boarding school, Prince Wilhelm escapes his highly regimented life and falls in love with his classmate Simon. Things get complicated when Wilhelm, content to turn his back on royalty for good, discovers he is next in line for the throne.
3. We Are Who We Are
Directed by Call Me By Your Name’s Luca Guadagnino, We Are Who We Are is the story of Fraser and Caitlin, two queer teens who find themselves drawn to one another while living abroad in Italy. The pair form a fast friendship and help each other navigate their budding sexualities and gender fluidity.
2. Skam
The Norwegian drama series Skam features a different protagonist every season. Heartstopper fans will likely resonate with season 3’s addition of Isak and Evan, a teenage gay couple attempting to find their place in a conservative environment. The show has been remade seven times in seven different languages, so you know it’s good.
1. Love, Victor
Love, Victor is a spinoff of the queer romance film Love, Simon, and centers around a love story between two teenage boys. After young Victor enrolls in Creekwood High School, he finds himself drawn to the recent graduate Simon (yes, the Simon from the movie!). Victor begins texting Simon to find guidance, and the pair eventually form a bond that goes beyond their initial friendship. If you’re looking for Heartstopper-grade slow-burn queer romance, you’ve come to the right place.
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