Netflix’s uplifting LGBTQ+ teen saga Heartstopper has changed the game when it comes to queer entertainment. Instead of perpetuating negativity and forcing traumatic stereotypes onto the community, the series answers what it would be like if non-straight adolescents got the same opportunities as their heteronormative counterparts. Is it corny a lot of the time? You bet it is! Does it still address problems and issues while also coming up with solutions? Absolutely again!
While you won’t find another show that follows Heartstopper’s template right down to the last red stripe on the rainbow, there are still some programs out there to fill your queer heart with joy once you finish season three, which drops October 3 on Netflix. These are the LGBTQ+ series you’ll love next after Heartstopper!
Love, Victor (2020-2022)
Love, Simon broke a lot of barriers when it was released in theaters in 2018. Fans responded to the adaptation of Becky Albertalli’s coming-of-age story with tears, laughs and plenty of repeat viewing. Hulu took a chance on there being an audience for a spinoff; enter Love, Victor. This sequel series set in the same universe as the film follows Victor Salazar (Michael Cimino), a Latino teen going to the same school as Simon, but with a lot more hurdles to climb than his white peers.
Victor grapples with his crush on Benji Campbell (George Sear) while debating how and when to come out to his potentially homophobic parents and friends. The series is structured similarly to Heartstopper but with a singular perspective rather than the double one in Alice Osman’s story. An increased level of diversity compared to previous LGBTQ+ shows made Love, Victor a game-changer for shows that followed.
Young Royals (2021-2024)
Netflix’s Swedish series Young Royals never exploits the LGBTQ+ experience like so many other adolescent dramas. The show understands that queer kids possess a lot more problems than just how to handle their sexualities. Characters are more than just symbols of gayness. They are well-rounded teens with a litany of troubles that both inform their queerness and force them to adapt in ways straight kids wouldn’t have to. Classism is perhaps the biggest barrier to romantic liberation for Prince Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) and Simon (Omar Rudberg).
One teen is the heir to the Swedish throne, while the other comes from a broken household with very little money. Together, Wilhem and Simon prove that love transcends societal roadblocks as they fight back against the monarchy and their preset paths in life to drive their love story in a new direction!
Never Have I Ever (2020-2023)
Based on the upbringing of Mindy Kaling, Never Have I Never expertly navigates queerness through several different supporting characters. Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) is the protagonist, a traumatized straight girl who tries to overcome the loss of her father, a rocky relationship with her mother and a new school in Southern California. Several of her friends experiment with same-sex relationships and queerness on their journeys to understand sexuality, from Devi’s best friend Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez) to her smarty-pants rival later in the show, Aneesa (Megan Suri).
Fabiola especially gets treated with great respect by the show as she slowly comes to understand her attraction to girls. The series contrasts her struggles in a same-sex relationship with those of Devi’s straight ones, drawing comparisons that let the audience see the breadth of the LGBTQ+ experience.
Never Have I Ever avoids tokenizing the queerness of its cast by normalizing the stress and eventual triumphs of LGBTQ+ girls in contemporary America. The show also infuses each episode with a lot of apt humor. It’s like Heartstopper, but funnier!
Tore (2023)
Some viewers have found Heartstopper nauseatingly unrealistic. The queer awakening of many LGBTQ+ folks can be tumultuous and severely confusing, not sugar-infused and cheerful. Tore juxtaposes Heartstopper by showing what happens when gay people don’t have a support system and must find their way through the darkness.
William Spetz plays a late-20s man who is about a decade behind in experiencing teenage firsts such as sex, drugs and relationships. The death of his father is a wake-up call to see the world in a new light, but that change of perspective often comes with devastating new issues. Tore is a darker companion to Heartstopper that might even make you laugh at things you would otherwise cry at.
Stranger Things (2016-present)
The Duffer Brothers’ science fiction phenomenon Stranger Things has flipped the TV landscape Upside Down in more ways than one. While a lot of people just watch to see the kids of Hawkins, Indiana solve the mysteries and kill the monsters that inhabit the town, others will find delicate LGBTQ+ storytelling rife with well-rounded queer characters.
From Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) confessing his love to his best friend and (so far) unrequited crush Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) to Robin Buckley’s (Maya Hawke) iconic bathroom coming out scene with Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), Stranger Things infuses one of Hollywood’s biggest projects with a taste of the rainbow. Millions of teens get to see themselves in the world’s biggest series, and the world will never be the same.
Six Feet Under (2001-2005)
One of HBO’s biggest pioneers, Six Feet Under took chances in the early 2000s that other series didn’t attempt. The Fisher family experiences life through the lens of constant death as they manage a funeral home. It sounds depressing, but the stories make you appreciate life and its fleeting qualities on a daily basis.
The series took home three GLAAD Awards for Outstanding Drama Series as main characters such as David (Michael C. Hall) and his partner Keith (Mathew St. Patrick) brought gay representation to mainstream America in a prestige drama for the first time.
The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021-present)
The Sex Lives of College Girls feels like a long time coming as it quite literally follows the title card to a tee, giving queer women a new way to represent their unharnessed sexualities. Another show created by Mindy Kaling, this drama takes off the training wheels and lets audiences take a peek at four women who make intimacy and sexuality a priority in their college lives even more than usual.
By subverting the expectations placed on women and their sexualities, this series creates a new normal for LGBTQ+ feminism amongst Gen Z. Amongst the strong characters in the series, Leighton (Reneé Rapp) gives viewers a multi-layered lesbian protagonist to root for. Her twinning chemistry with Tatum (Gracie Dzienny) shows same-sex women relationships in a chaotic, yet still grounded manner.
The romance gives credence to the way LGBTQ+ people are drawn to those who resemble them, for better and for worse. Leighton may reignite a relationship with Alicia (Midori Francis) in season three. It’s nice to see queer actors play queer characters, as Rapp is lesbian in real life. The show will return this November for its third act.