Kit Connor and Joe Locke sound off on Heartstopper’s most infamous phrase

We’re just one week away from Heartstopper coming back to our screens for Season 3 — and with it, we’re sure to hear plenty more “hi”s from its leading couple, Nick and Charlie. It was how they first introduced themselves in the show’s pilot, and it’s how they’ve greeted each other over and over ever since. (The third season’s trailer even opens with Kit Connor as Nick giving Joe Locke as Charlie a “hi” on the beach.)

The “hi” exchanges, while undeniably iconic, are divisive for Heartstopper watchers. Some see them as cute and wholesome; others as cringy and overwrought. 

But how do Connor and Locke, the actors behind the “hi”s, feel about their characters’ catchphrase? In a new interview with Mashable, they revealed how they handle saying the same lines over and over.

First, interviewer Shannon Connellan asked the duo how they diversify their many “hi”s throughout the show: “How do you make every single time so wonderful and nuanced?” she asked. “Because it’s a very tiny word.”

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Connor quickly cleared things up: “I don’t think we do,” he said.

“We take the mickey a little bit now, which actually probably makes it more sincere,” Locke added.

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“There are days when we would spend, like, two hours just opening the door, saying ‘hi,’ closing the door, going up, getting changed into another outfit, doing the same thing in another outfit. And we would do it maybe six or seven times in a row,” Connor explained. “There is a point where you’re like, ‘I need to be an actor and remember to say these differently.’”

“There’s also only so many ways you can say ‘hi,’” Locke echoed.

That’s when Connor revealed he’d even tried to slip another greeting into the mix, to no avail. “There was actually a point where I said, ‘Can I say hello?’ And they said no,” he said.

“there was a point where i said ‘can i say hello?’ and they said no”😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/dlmbTty7Tj

— mills (@Ioverspring) September 25, 2024

How many new “hi”s will we get in Season 3 of Heartstopper? We’ll find out when the season hits Netflix on October 3. Check out the trailer below.

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