Joe Locke didn’t just bring Heartstopper tenderness to the MCU—he also brought queer improv realness to Agatha All Along.
In a scene that now lives rent-free in LGBTQ+ group chats everywhere, Locke reveals:
“There’s another bit where she throws me in the closet, and I said something like, ‘Not back in the closet again.’ I remember telling Jac, I was like, ‘We should say that.’ And she’s like, ‘I didn’t write that because I didn’t know if we were allowed to say it.’ I was like, ‘No, no, Jack, I’m giving us permission. We can say that.’”
RELATED: Joe Locke Wants to Get Ripped and Play a “Macho Straight Man”
Joe gave himself the gay stamp of approval—and Disney kept it in.
Gay Hero. Gay Actor. Gay Agenda? Thriving.
Locke, who came out publicly when Heartstopper took off, knows what it means to play someone like Billy Kaplan—a queer superhero in a universe not exactly overflowing with them.
“I definitely felt a lot of pressure. You want to do something right… but also you can’t let that overtake your own instincts… I hope I did the character justice.”
He did more than justice—he made Billy matter to young queer fans who finally get to see themselves as powerful, magical, and complicated.
“I think Billy’s such an important character for a lot of queer people because he was the first quote superhero they got to see… I remember having the Young Avengers comics and reading about it and seeing myself in them.”
Patti LuPone at The Abbey? Yes, That Happened.
Locke also lived a gay fever dream by dragging Patti LuPone to The Abbey.
“I was like, ‘Patti, do you want to come to the Abbey?’ And she was like, ‘Doll, I’ll go anywhere with you.’”
She stood for the go-go dancers.
“Patti LuPone does not give a standing ovation… She was standing for the dancers of the Abbey and clapping for them.”
The bar is blessed. The bar is holy.
Heartstopper: The Movie Is Coming
Instead of another season, the queer comfort show is getting a cinematic farewell.
“We realized that the only way to get it made this year is if we do a film… It makes it feel more cinematic, more grand, and gives it the ending it deserves.”
Bring tissues and your chosen family.
Joe wants to die a gruesome horror death and maybe even play a straight bro one day. But for now? He’s our soft-spoken, closet-cracking, Patti-partying gay icon.
Let’s be honest: he’s not going back in the closet, and neither are we.
Agatha All Along is streaming now.
Heartstopper: The Movie is coming.
And Joe Locke? He’s already legendary.
Source: The Playlist
I find it amazing how Joe looks so much like Billy Kaplan…
What an amazing young actor… I think he has what it takes to play any kind of rol, lets face it Charlie and Billy may be gay but thats about it when it comes to similarities. Joe played to gay characters who couldn’t be more different. Charlie is a nice boy, sheltered and Billy is a darker teenager, also complex but in a mature kind of way, no self doubt but in a quest of understanding