Kit Connor just won his first Emmy and the Heartstopper cast had the very best tributes
Heartstopper star Kit Connor has won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Performance as Nick Nelson at the first annual Children’s and Family Emmy Awards.
The coming-of-age romcom series, created by Alice Oseman, also came out on top in four other categories, including the prestigious Outstanding Young Teen Series, Outstanding Casting and Outstanding Writing.
Olivia Colman, who paid tribute to Connor last week after bullies forced him to come out as bisexual, also scooped the award for Outstanding Guest Performance for her portrayal of Kit’s mum Sarah Nelson.
Although Connor was absent from the ceremony, co-stars Sebastian Croft and Will Gao accepted the award on his behalf, giving them the opportunity to share some suitably heartwarming words in the place of an acceptance speech.
“Kit, wherever you are – hi!”, Croft began, joking that he and Gao were jumping up to accept Connor’s award in the style of producer Patrick Walters, who had accepted Olivia Colman’s award moments before.
“Kit has been so inspiring for us, and he really led the company of actors, and this is so well deserved, and we can’t wait to give this to him,” said Gao.
Croft shared the news to Instagram with a message for Connor: “bestie wake up you just won an emmy xx”.
Kit Connor later took to Instagram to share his own message of appreciation for the recognition.
Having quit Twitter over queerbaiting allegations, he took to Instagram to share the video of Gao and Croft, writing: “well this is cool. thank you so much to everyone who watched the show!”
Fans of the show have congratulated the actor in their droves, with one writing: “i could not be more proud of kit connor right now. to be an emmy award winner at 18 years old and for his fellow cast to talk so highly of him. to say he lead them and helped them. nick nelson is a character that carved a space for himself in queer history with kits performance.”
Filming on season two of Heartstopper recently wrapped, with Alice Oseman sharing a picture of Kit, Joe Locke (Charlie Spring), as well as some of the show’s production team.
She explained that while filming had been “incredibly intense”, she was impressed that “everyone rose to those challenges with such passion and skill and determination”.
We can’t wait for the second series to drop, although no official release date has yet been announced. Stay tuned for more updates.
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