Rhea Norwood on the Third Season of Brit Hit ‘Heartstopper’ and Leading London’s ‘Cabaret’

Season three of Netflix‘s teen romance hit Heartstopper lands on our screens this week.

Charlie (played by Joe Locke) faces something of a mental health crisis as beau Nick (Kit Connor) becomes increasingly concerned. The wider friendship group, including Imogen (Rhea Norwood), Tara (Corinna Brown), Darcy (Kizzy Edgell), Tao (William Gao) and Elle (Yasmin Finney), are also facing more relationship and identity crises, showing their own angst over becoming young adults — all while love, sex and university choices land on their plates.

Guest starring as Charlie’s celebrity crush Jack Maddox is Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey, who Norwood describes as “very charming.” “He’s just got this incredible, natural charisma,” the 23-year-old says.

It’s been a busy year for the young British actress, who from June to September led London’s West End performance of Cabaret as Sally Bowles, alongside musical theater pro Layton Williams, at the Playhouse Theatre. Set in the late 1930s during the twilight of the Jazz Age and while the Nazi Party rises to power, the show focuses on the hedonistic nightlife of the seedy Kit Kat Club. It revolves around American writer Clifford Bradshaw and his relationship with English cabaret performer Sally.

Norwood is ready for a vacation, but first there’s a sparkling new eight episodes of Heartstopper from Oct. 3 for audiences to sink their teeth into. Below, Norwood tells THR what we can expect from the season ahead, Bailey’s warm reception on set and how she landed one of London’s biggest theater roles: “I think I’m one of the youngest people to play Sally. … So I hadn’t anticipated getting that call!”

Happy season three of Heartstopper! How did you find yourself in this wildly popular Netflix show?

I went to drama school at 18 [years old] in 2019. So in 2020, it was my first year of drama school — which was obviously on Zoom; it was pandemic training [that] went through into second year as well, which is quite gutting — and I saw the casting call for Heartstopper online when I was in my second year. Again, this was on Zoom. I didn’t even have headshots at that point but I thought, I’m nearly in third year, I’ll send off a photo and maybe casting directors will remember me next year when I’m ready to work. I never expected to get an audition — let alone get the role.

And I did a self-tape for Heartstopper, a season one role for a different character, Darcy [played by Kizzy Edgell], and I got recalled for Imogen. Then I got the role. Suddenly I had to have conversations with my drama school being like, “Listen, I’ve accidentally got this role, a Netflix job. Can you please let me do it?” And luckily, because of COVID and how much it disrupted the training anyway, they were like, “You’ve not had most of your training anyway; just go and get some experience.” So I did season one, and I was just very happy to get some work. I thought maybe it would help me get an agent. I didn’t anticipate it to blow up in the way that it did.

I think it’s safe to say everyone is excited about season three. Can you tell me what it’s like, being on a Heartstopper set?

It’s definitely transformed throughout the years, because when we started, for most of us, it was our first-ever experience on a film set. So it was quite a nurturing environment. It was a lot of excitement just to be there. And by season three, we all know each other so well, we’ve gone on this crazy journey with each other as an ensemble cast. So the more improvised moments in the background of scenes when we’re all just being together as a group are in the show. There’s this as natural chemistry now that we have. It’s a very playful energy, and there’s a lot of joking around and taking the piss out of each other, for sure.

Who was most excited about Jonathan Bailey’s season three appearance?

I mean, who wasn’t excited? I was pretty excited, to be fair. I’m a big fan of his audition video for [the London production of musical rom-com] The Last Five Years on YouTube, which is sort of niche. … But it’s just the most brilliant acting through song ever. So I’m a big fan of him from that. All of us were very, very excited to have him on. And I did get to meet him briefly and see him work. I sort of hid behind the monitor to watch him do his thing. He’s just got this incredible, natural charisma. He’s very charming. It’s amazing.

What’s ahead in this season? I understand you might not be able to say a lot, but what direction are we going in and what’s on the horizon for Imogen?

It’s amazing. All the characters are getting much older now. They’re looking at universities, Imogen included, and thinking a lot about the future — who they want to be when they go into the world. So it definitely has a more mature aspect. There’s lots of conversations around intimacy, and I think that’s going to be really special to watch, because it’s all done and held through this really wholesome, beautiful Heartstopper lens. It tackles some of the more complicated subject matters with a hug.

And Imogen, I think it’s a continuation of her journey in season two, where she’s thinking a lot about who she is and she’s considering her identity — where she fits in, where she doesn’t. Big, teenage life questions to tackle.

If you could speak to Heartstopper fans, what would you say to get them excited about this season?

I’d say that there is a storyline for everybody in it, regardless of how you might identify and your relationship with your identity. There is a character that feels like it represents everybody, and I think that’s a really important and beautiful thing to watch.

And as you said, there are at times quite dark subject matters, but all told with a hug. There’s a few this season that were hinted at in the trailer, for example eating disorders and wider conversations around mental health, how daunting physical intimacy can be when you’re a teenager. So I wanted to ask, do you feel like — and obviously, all of this is framed by the LGBTQ+ stories the show tells — you’re a part of something that’s really important for young people to see?

Absolutely, yeah, I do. When I get to meet viewers of the show and you see the way they describe the show, how they interact with you, you get to see how important it is to them. I’ve always said this, but I wish we had Heartstopper when I was in secondary school. I think the nature of the show breeds this incredible sense of self-acceptance and acceptance of others that allows you to shed your judgment that you have around yourself or other people. To [be able to] navigate the world with a hug in the way the show does and with love, I think that is incredible. It’s a teen show, and it doesn’t pretend that it’s not. But I think the narrative that teen shows aren’t as important as mature adult content, is silly to suggest. The fact that it is a teenage show and it’s doing this is what makes it even more important.

I’m assuming you would love to return for a season four, if it was confirmed…

Yeah, we’d see what the journey would be and whether it would be right, character-wise.

And of course, Olivia Colman couldn’t return for this season [as Nick’s mother]. Was that absence felt on set?

She’s Olivia Colman, so we all bloody love her. Who doesn’t love her? It’s incredible that she wanted to be involved in the show — and that she could be with her crazy schedule! — but most of us didn’t get to actually meet her. So it was sad that she wasn’t involved but we didn’t get much interaction with her anyway.

Let’s move on to your starring role in London’s Cabaret. How long have you been performing as Sally Bowles now?

Three and a bit months! I’ve been doing it since June. I finish [mid-September].

How do you feel about finishing?

My body is telling me that it’s time, because I give quite a physical performance every night. My body is like, you need to slow down and take a break. But creatively, I could honestly do it for so much longer. I feel like the depth of where you can go with the character and the script. … It’s beautiful and generic in the way that it’s written, in that there’s so much room for interpretation. You could just delve deeper into different versions of it every single night. I feel like I can only probably just touch the surface of how much [more] I could go into it. But yeah, I’m going to be very sad. I don’t know what I’m going to do without it at 7.30 every night. But my body is telling me it’s time to stop.

I’m not surprised! How did this come into fruition for you?

It’s my dream role. I’d wanted it since I was 16. I saw it in the West End two years ago, and I actually saw it with Toby Donovan from Heartstopper. I said to him, “I have to play this role. I’ve got to do it.” And then, yeah, at the start of the year they asked me to audition, and I didn’t think the audition would come through. I think I’m one of the youngest people to play Sally. So I hadn’t anticipated getting the call to audition.

But yeah, it did come through, and I felt ready for it. I put everything into it. I auditioned and I got the role that day. We launched into rehearsals and vocal training.

Were you daunted, with Cabaret being such a well-established show, not just on the West End but on Broadway, too?

Obviously it would be crazy for me to say I wasn’t daunted by the precedent Cabaret has set. But I was just so excited. It just felt really aligned, and I felt like I could do it. I didn’t want to feel nervous or daunted or focus on any of that, because it felt like it would be a disservice to the dream of doing it. I wanted to move through the process with a lot of joy and happiness. I think this is one of the first things in my life where every part of this job has been doing it for me, and my dream of it.

I was just very excited to birth my version of Sally because you can really take her most places. I didn’t feel a pressure to live up to any expectations of her because she can go anywhere. I wanted to show my version that had existed in my head since I was 16 years old, having seen the film.

How was it starring alongside Layton Williams?

Oh, he’s such a legend. Honestly, he’s a god. He is full of energy, and he was doing all of his dancing shows as well at the same time. And he’s been in the industry since he was a kid. He’s a bit older than me, so to have him around and to see how he moves through the industry and navigate spaces, hat was really amazing for me to experience. He knows his boundaries really well and it’s my first theater job, so I’m still learning the industry. I’ve only been in the industry for two, three years, so it’s been a privilege to watch him and learn by example.

Do you want to return to the stage one day?

Absolutely, I love it.

What would your dream production be?

Well, I mean, Cabaret. [Laughs.] I say this all the time, I’d love to play Hedda Gabler in [Henrik Ibsen’s] Hedda Gabler. I saw that play a similar time to when I saw Cabaret. I saw Ruth Wilson do [Hedda Gabbler] at the National Theater. I always wanted to do musical theater until that point. And I saw that play, and I was like, oh, I want to go and train in just acting, because that was the most moving performance I’ve ever seen. So I’d love to do that. I’d love to do a [Stephen] Sondheim musical as well. I always say that there’s still not enough representation of female characters on the stage that I feel resonate with me. Sally is one of the few ones. But we still struggle to portray really authentic women, and there’s so many stories we haven’t told that I really want to tell.

Are you able to talk about any projects coming up for you?

There isn’t! [Laughs.] I’m going on holiday after this. But yeah, hopefully something will come. I think having done Cabaret, which has been the most creatively fulfilling thing of my life, I am in no rush to jump into projects for the sake of it. I feel like acting is only really worth it when you can devote your whole soul to it, or for me anyway. I think it takes a special script and character. I just want to make sure I’m telling stories that resonate with me. So if that means I don’t do something for a while, I’m happy with that.