'Heartstopper' Star Talks 'Warfare' and the 'Seedy' Side of 'Romeo & Juliet' on Broadway

"Heartstopper" heartthrob Kit Connor opened up on his reservations about a fourth season of the hit Netflix show, his new movie, being "objectified" on the Broadway stage, and more.

The 21-year-old English actor plays a fresh young recruit subjected to the horrors of war in Alex Garland's new movie "Warfare" (opening in theaters April 11). The Cut noted that Connor, who bulked up considerably between seasons of "Heartstopper" and so was "already jacked" before production on the film began, "got even bigger" for the role, in which he plays a Marine deployed to Iraq in 2006.

Ripped as he might be, the actor remains fresh-faced. "Connor's character, Tommy, is the newbie of the group," The Cut explained, "a 'gunner' who fires some of the film's first bullets but is so young and inexperienced that his face remains a perpetual shade of gray throughout the film."

Connor has been a filmmaking pro since childhood, appearing in movies like "Mr. Holmes," "Ready Player One," and "Rocket Man," in which he portrayed a young Reginald Dwight (a.k.a. Elton John).

But he became a global star with the premiere and success of "Heartstopper," the Netflix adaptation of the popular graphic novels by Alice Oseman.

In the series, Connor plays bisexual English high schooler Nick, a rugby player who falls in love with openly gay – and bullied – classmate Charlie (Joe Locke). Only 18 when the show hit streaming, Connor and his co-stars became overnight celebrities, particularly for the LGBTQ+ community, given that the show features a rainbow of characters that includes a lesbian couple, a transgender teen and her cisgender boyfriend, and an asexual youth.

But, The Cut noted, fans were insistent on knowing Connor's real-life status in terms of where he falls on the spectrum of human sexuality. Accused of "gay baiting," the young man came out as bisexual in a social media post.

"i'm bi," Connor tweeted in the fall of 2022. "congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself."

Connor later said that fans pressuring him on the issue of his sexuality had "missed the point" of the show.

Making his Broadway debut in a potent new production of "Romeo and Juliet," Connor experienced a little more of the public's prurient side.

"I'd take my shirt off and see camera flashes from the audience," the actor related. "There was something quite seedy about that."

He went on to add: "It upset me at times, not because I felt objectified – and I did feel objectified at times, I'm not undermining that feeling – but what upset me more was that scene came right after my 'Banished' scene, in which Romeo threatens to kill himself."

The most recent season of "Heartstopper" – the show's third – dealt with serious subjects like mental health, and critiqued the exploitive side of media with a storyline in which the show's transgender character, Elle (Yasmin Finney), is blind-sided by questions about her gender identity while appearing on a radio show to discuss a completely unrelated topic.

The third season's ending didn't feel like a swan song, but as yet there's no word on whether the show will be back for a Season 4. (If so, Oseman says, it will be the final season.)

Connor seemed ambivalent about a fourth season to round things out and complete the characters' storylines. He honored the fact that its teenaged characters are young adults who are beginning to explore sex and relationships, Nick and Charlie as much as their friends. But the actors playing those characters are aging, too, and are now full-fledged adults.

"You don't want to see Olivia Colman" – who plays Nick's mother – "driving a 30-year-old Kit Connor to high school," Connor quipped.

Watch a trailer for "Warfare" below.