Heartstopper season 3 saves some time for Isaac Henderson's (Tobie Donovan) important journey of self-discovery.

Entering its third season, Netflix's teen drama Heartstopper has torn to shreds the previous expectations set upon LGBTQ+ coming-of-age series. The show, based on Alice Osman's web comic and graphic novels, fearlessly tackles topics that others often ignore, and its actors and writers make it a point to normalize those who feel unseen or different. The world of Heartstopper is how all queer teenagers should experience life, regardless of who they are attracted to. The show has nearly every orientation in the pride-filled acronym covered, and season 3 takes special care to recognize one particular category in the "plus" umbrella that goes almost entirely invisible on the silver screen: asexuality.

There are approximately 70 million ace individuals on the planet right now, or 1% of the entire global population. The United Kingdom's entire occupancy is a little over 69 million. In other words, if you think that a group of people the size of an entire world superpower should just be overlooked, think again. According to GLAAD, there were 327 queer characters on original scripted TV during the 2023-2024 season. Each one of these people's stories inspires and comforts those who have nowhere else to look while watching from home. How many of those queer characters are asexual? Four.

Isaac Henderson (Tobie Donovan) from Heartstopper is one of those ace characters. The first season of the series put Isaac firmly in the periphery of the action, often reading a book or providing some comic relief with an off-the-cuff piece of sarcasm when Charlie (Joe Locke) or Tao (William Gao) needed some humbling. Unlike his besties, Isaac doesn't get involved with anyone romantically. He doesn't have any outward crushes, and his personality is often used as a reflection of the main characters.

Isaac's asexuality is explored more in season 2 when he shares an awkward first kiss with a classmate, James McEwan (Bradley Riches). He doesn't get the warm fuzzies or the colorful butterflies that litter the screen when other teens in the cast smooch, but rather a confusing search down the internet rabbit hole. Isaac decides that he's asexual and aromantic, and the show dives headfirst into this story in season 3.