Heartstopper writer says Netflix series could run for 4 seasons

Given the mammoth amount of hype and interest in the first season, which drops imminently on Netflix, the odds of a second run are looking very promising at the moment – although Netflix has not confirmed anything just yet.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other press, Oseman revealed that she has a rough idea of how many episodes she would need to deliver a complete live-action adaptation of her comic books.

"It would probably be four seasons to cover the full story," she said. "I haven't done any in-detail planning or anything, but it's quite easy to divide up the books into seasons, so four I think would do it."

• Heartstopper's Joe Locke joins Episode 31 of The Radio Times Podcast - listen now

While many novelists hand their work over to screenwriters to adapt, Oseman has been heavily involved in Heartstopper's leap from page to screen, penning each one of the television scripts herself and describing the experience as "a big learning curve".

"I'd never written a script before so I had to learn how to do that," she continued. "I always say some parts of it were easy, and some were really hard. The way I write graphic novels is quite similar to a script anyway, so I feel like I picked up on the script format of it quite quickly."

Overall, Heartstopper is a very faithful adaptation of the source material (which should come to the relief of fans), but some changes did have to be made as part of the format shift.

Oseman added: "The challenges of adapting something that's a comic for TV is that some things that are in a comic just don't work for TV. Like Heartstopper, the comics, is a very low-stakes story.

"Problems are resolved pretty much immediately, which isn't normally how TV works, so we had to add a bit more drama – a bit more angst – into the show.

"And also, we expanded the world of Heartstopper as well. We got to explore the side characters of Heartstopper in a lot more depth when there's not really much room for that in the comics. But that was all part of the fun of it."

• Heartstopper review: It's very sweet, but for young viewers only
• Meet the cast of Heartstopper, Netflix’s LGBTQ+ teen drama

Heartstopper volumes 1-4 are available for purchase on Amazon, for anyone looking to brush up on the story before the show's sure-to-be-massive Netflix launch.

Heartstopper is available to stream on Netflix from Friday 22nd April 2022. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.

The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now – subscribe now to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.