Jonathan Bailey was so blown away by “Heartstopper” that he just knew he had to be on the show.
“Like so many people, I watched the first [season] and thought it was one of the biggest, most beautiful gifts to so many people, and I wish I had that growing up,” the "Fellow Travelers" and "Bridgerton" star said at the Met Gala Monday night.
It was announced in late April that Bailey will make a cameo appearance as Jack Maddox, an Instagram-famous classicist and celebrity crush of Charlie (Joe Locke).
“I had a mutual friend who knows [executive producer Patrick Walters] and I just said, ‘If there’s anything I could do to help and be a part of that story,’” Bailey recalled.
He said that the series, based on Alice Oseman’s graphic novel series of the same name, “really has changed the way people could grow and communicate around who they are.”
He continued, “It’s not just for our community. It’s for every person who is a member of a family who has a member of the LGBT+ community. It helps all of us.”
The night before the Met Gala, Bailey attended Locke’s last performance in the Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
“It was amazing,” Bailey said. “It was electric.”
Season 3 will also see appearances by Hayley Atwell (“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”) as Nick’s aunt Diane and Eddie Marsan (“Back to Black,” “Ray Donovan”) as Charlie’s therapist.
“I am incredibly excited to be welcoming three new cast members to the ‘Heartstopper’ family,” Oseman said in a statement about Bailey, Atwell and Marsan at the time of their casting announcement. “It was an absolute joy to see Hayley, Eddie and Jonathan’s talent alongside our existing cast, and I can’t wait for the ‘Heartstopper’ fans to meet these new characters.”