Joe Locke first captured our hearts when he appeared as one-half of the heartwarming teenage gay couple on Netflix’s Heartstopper together with Kit Connor.
Related: Netflix Drops Joe Locke and Kit Connor’s Heart-Stopping First Scene
Proud does not even begin to describe Joe Locke, the young man is the embodiment of gay pride. The Heartstopper actor came out at a very tender age of 12-years-old and then again at 15. Since then, the actor has used his voice to rally behind and to represent the queer community. Back in 2022, Pride in London came back onto the streets after the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, homophobic protesters thought they could ruin the event. Luckily, Locke and his castmates carried out their message by putting their middle fingers up whilst dancing to the iconic Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.”
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At such a young age, Locke has already been Emmy-nominated following his role as Charlie Spring in Heartstopper. His career trajectory is only headed upwards with the star slated to appear as “Teen” alongside acting veterans Kathryn Hahn, Aubrey Plaza, Patti LuPone, and Debra Jo Rupp in the highly-anticipated Marvel series Agatha All Along. Producers and showrunners have kept mum on Locke’s character but avid fans have theorized that “Teen” might be Wanda and Vision’s gay son Billy/Wiccan, who is one of Marvel’s most popular LGBTQ characters.
Related: Disney+ Drops ‘Agatha All Along’ Trailer Starring Joe Locke
Talking about the “pride”-aspect, so-to-speak, of his Marvel character it seems that Locke hasn’t really dwelled on the matter, stating:
“I’ve never really thought about it. It’s one of those things that gets a bit stressful if you think about it too much.”
Joe’s schedule is jam-packed considering Heartstopper is also coming out this year and the latest season, premiering on October 3, promises more nuanced and mature scenes. With Locke’s talent, it’s not very difficult to understand that he doesn’t want to be type-casted into gay roles and would later want to distinguish himself from his role on Heartstopper. He says of having to carry the responsibility of being a voice to the LGBTQ+ community:
“I find all of it quite overwhelming, in a good way, but still overwhelming.”
He explains wanting to play a character that has more depth than just playing to his sexuality:
“The show [Agatha All Along] never shies away from his queerness, but it’s not a defining feature of his character.”
Acquaintances of the young actor have nothing but nice and thoughtful words to say about who Joe truly is as a person, with Heartstopper executive producer Patrick Walters saying:
“He remains so consistently who he was when I first met him.”
In an interview with Variety, Locke’s Agatha All Along co-star Kathryn Hahn has said of his confidence:
“It almost catches you off guard, how true he is to himself. I’m telling you, you just never really see him sweat. I remember he corrected me early on, because I said, ‘These witches and this gorgeous wizard.’ And he was like, ‘No, we’re all witches.’ That really stuck with me.”
You can stream the first two episodes of Agatha All Along premieres on September 18 on Disney+ and Heartstopper on Netflix starting October 3.
Sources: Variety, Independent, Nerdist