A pivotal moment in Heartstopper Forever is the long-awaited pillow fort scene, and while it’s a touching exchange for Nick (Kit Connor) and Charlie (Joe Locke), some readers of Alice Oseman’s graphic novels have been left feeling “disappointed”. In place of a fourth season, Heartstopper Forever serves as the feature-length conclusion to the beloved coming-of-age series, premiering on Netflix on Friday, July 17th. The film picks up after season three, which ended with Charlie beginning to recover from his mental health struggles and eating disorder while Nick decided to apply to Leeds University, leaving the pair facing the prospect of a long-distance relationship. A combination of the sixth graphic novel in the Heartstopper series and Oseman’s Nick and Charlie novella, the two-hour movie sees Nick preparing for university and Charlie stepping into his role as Head Boy, while also giving us updates on all the other characters. Credit: Netflix A key moment in volume six is the pillow fort, which Charlie makes for Nick after noticing him struggling to open up to him. Finally, when their guards are down inside the fort, Nick lets his anxieties known. Admitting that part of it is about the distance that will be between them when he goes to uni, Nick says, “It’s probably more than that… I think about you getting ill again. About you in the hospital. And I’m so scared of that happening again. “But I’m also scared of you… outgrowing me. You’re amazing and I’m just… there’s nothing special about me. Either way, I feel like I need to be the best boyfriend I can for you. Or else, we could just fall apart.” Charlie reassures him, telling him “you’re the most special person in my entire universe.” Charlie says he can tell he’s been anxious and hiding something, and while he’s always done that around certain people, he never used to do that with him. “You don’t have to be the strong one who always saves the day,” he tells Nick. “We can both be strong, okay?” Credit: Netflix They continue talking, until Nick asks if they can have sex. “Are you trying to distract me again?” asks Charlie, to which Nick replies, “No, I promise we can talk more. I just need you.” In Heartstopper Forever, Charlie similarly makes a pillow fort for Nick, but their conversation centres on a moment that happens earlier in the book when Nick has a nightmare about Charlie dying. This brings them onto the topic of Nick’s anxieties about not being able to protect Charlie. “If I can’t protect you, who even am I?” he says. Both of them reassure each other, and say they love one another. Just like in the book, they have sex, with Nick bottoming. All of these elements have led to widespread praise, with viewers celebrating the fact that it challenges stereotypes around masculinity and sexual roles in relationships. Book readers are divided about the film’s pillow fort scene But some fans of the books wish it had played out differently, particularly when it comes to the purpose of the scene. Credit: Netflix Over on Reddit, one wrote, “I think something that stood out to me about the film is how the pillow fort scene really lost its purpose. “In Volume 6, it is the first time that Nick truly opens up to Charlie about how he is feeling and the sex they eventually have is one of healing and connection instead of Nick using it to deflect from his issues.” They went on to recall a post Alice made at the time after so much speculation about the passing reference to the scene in Nick and Charlie. “She said it was important to her to lean into the importance of it and make it an incredibly important moment in Nick and Charlie’s journey, and it made me so sad to see it not carry that same weight in the film,” the Redditor added. “Sure, Nick opened up to Charlie about his nightmare and Charlie gave him the camera and made the entire setup as a way to cheer him up, but Nick kept a lot of the deeper issues he described in the book to himself during the scene and it seemed like him asking to have sex was more of a deflection than anything else… Ah Patreon users have been waiting so long for today’s #Heartstopper update! I am so proud of Alice for putting the pillow fort in the comics despite the childish wines of people getting their panties in a bunch over it for years. The scene is perfection. What say you now? pic.twitter.com/BTIcAIT1EV — Amber 🍂🏒 (@Awish921) August 11, 2025 “The film seemed to treat it as a moment of fluff in the storm and glossed over a pivotal moment in the entire series that I feel should have stayed intact. Was anyone else sad to not see it play out the way it did in the books? Am I overreacting thinking that it lost its true purpose?” Another agreed, “I’m so upset that we didn’t really get a scene in the film where Nick properly opens up to Charlie.” However, others pointed out that the story wouldn’t have worked as well if it had stayed true to the pages. “I also wish we could have had the exact pillow fort scene as it was in the comics. But that scene, as well as the one on the swings, wasn’t meant to be once the film decided to incorporate the breakup,” said one. “If they’d had those two conversations, there’s no way the argument and miscommunication at the party would have happened.” Another commented, “I agree and desperately wish they had kept the pillow fort scene as is, directly from the comics. Though because they wanted to include a breakup, I don’t think it would’ve made sense to have it exactly as it was in the comics. “I don’t see how they would’ve broken up after that, since Nick was actually able to share what was going on with Charlie and they had a really good discussion about it.” For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, like our Facebook page. Featured image credit: Netflix Post navigation Next storyPrevious story
