Heartstopper star Joe Locke is manifesting his next dream role, and it might not be what you are expecting — unless you've been paying attention to the actor's comments for a while.
Speaking to Dylan Mulvaney in her brand new Lemonada Media podcast, called The Dylan Hour, Locke opened up about his career and wishes. Towards the end of the conversation, he was asked what his hopes were as he “matures into roles," and he did not hesitate to give out an answer.
“I want to play a really macho straight man in an action film," Locke said. “My dream would be to get paid a sh*t ton of money to get really ripped.” Well, we'd love to see it — especially since his Heartstopper costar Kit Connor also got ripped for a movie.
This isn't the first time Locke has expressed his desire to branch out and be given new roles. In the August/September 2024 issue of Rolling Stone UK, the star opened up about his two dream roles, which fall on opposite sides of the spectrum. The first one is Disney’s first openly gay prince, and the second is a “macho” action role. “I’d love to be in an action film, do something really macho, but in my way, not necessarily the most macho way,” he said at the time. "I’ve not done any films yet, so I’d love to do a film.”
Locke later revealed to Variety that “most of the casting [he gets] sent are for gay characters," so “there are days that [he] never wants to play a gay character again.” In that interview, Locke even shared he was cast in a straight role for a movie he couldn't ultimately do due to scheduling conflicts.
He shared that he thought it was an opportunity to show he's more than “a one-trick pony who was just the guy from Heartstopper," and added that that feeling "in itself is maybe a problem of the industry or a problem of me and my internalized homophobia.” (For reference, Locke told Teen Vogue that he has been openly gay since the age of 12.)
Speaking to GQ around the same time as the previous interviews, Locke said he finds himself “wanting to go to the other extreme” whenever an opportunity to play a gay character comes across his desk. "Every time I get sent a gay role, I’m like, ‘I want to play, like, a straight Republican,’” he quipped. “I think I’m really in my head at the moment over being typecast as just playing a camp gay role. But it’s a me thing. It’s a thing I need to get over, myself.”
Speaking to The Guardian a month later, he further talked about his fears of being typecast. “I get a lot of auditions for more gay teenage characters, very similar parts, and, while they’re great, I’ve played two gay characters now,” Locke said, referring to Heartstopper's Charlie and Agatha All Along's Teen/Wiccan. “Not that I would not want to play another gay character, but I want to be a versatile actor, not get stamped," he clarified.
In that interview, Locke also manifested a villainous role instead of an action role. “I want to play a villain; I want to play a part where you get to explore elements of humanity that you would never get to do in real life. Someone completely different to me. But who knows, maybe I am authentically evil," he said.
You can watch Joe Locke's full interview with Dylan Mulvaney below:
