Hand has recently been seen on stage playing Marcus Rashford in Dear England, while he has also appeared in TV series including Silent Witness and Grace.
His casting was announced on the official Netflix account on X, which has recently been rebranded from Twitter, with a post saying: "Some of you already figured this out but for those who didn't we're thrilled to be welcoming Darragh Hand to the Heartstopper family for S3 - he's playing Michael Holden!"
In Solitaire, Michael is a friend of Tori, Charlie's sister, who is played by Jenny Walser and was introduced in season 1. She appears alongside Hand's Michael in a first-look photo posted on Twitter.
We don't know much about Heartstopper season 3 yet but we do know that the first episode will be called Love, hinting at a resolution to the cliffhanger at the end of season 2.
That season's final episode saw Nick and Charlie both close to revealing their love for one another, but struggling to do so. It seems that we may see them tell each other just how strong their feelings are in season 3.
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The new season went into production in October 2023, with Andy Newbery, who has previously worked on shows including The Light in the Hall and Hidden, set to direct an episode.
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Heartstopper seasons 1-2 is available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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