Joe Unlocked: How Joe Locke became one of Britain’s most exciting actors

It’s a warm summer’s day in 2021 and a formerly abandoned school on the outskirts of Slough is once again teeming with life as the cast and crew of Netflix’s first series of Heartstopper take over. School assembly halls become bedrooms for an afternoon, art classrooms are full of creations once again, and the sports hall is alive with the sound of music and rubber trainers screeching against the hard floor. Between takes, the cast playfully mess around as teenagers do, enjoying the sun during their last days of obscurity. At the drop of a hat, or perhaps more appropriately, the clap of a film slate, they become consummate professionals who take their craft seriously.

Of all the cast members, bushy-haired and fresh-faced Joe Locke is very much the wide-eyed ingenue. His demeanour shifts as we chat briefly, finding a moment of relief from the sun under large umbrellas. Playfulness gives way to shyness. Journalists tend to have that effect. I sense that the presence of castmate Tobie Donovan is something of a comfort for Locke. This is also among the first of many interviews Locke will conduct as filming of Heartstopper season one comes to a close.

Cut to several months later, and I’m at Locke’s first editorial photoshoot for Attitude magazine. Again, he switches between being relaxed and energetic with his castmates Kit Connor, Yasmin Finney and Will Gao, to bashful when we speak again. I’m sure it’s not just me.

Fast-forward to May 2024, and Locke is shooting his solo cover for Rolling Stone UK. His thick bouncy curls, styled in a wet look, are now closely cropped, and he’s giving off a more mature vibe. Over the past two years, he has scored a number of photoshoots and covers. He’s a pro, and the shots come quickly and easily. We blaze through three looks before lunchtime. But the smiles and smoulders on display in the images belie the shyness Locke admits to still feeling despite his experience in this setting.

Conversely, alongside this timidity, there is a sense of confidence and assurance in the young actor that perhaps was always present, but which has been forged more strongly over the past two years. In that very short period of time, he has managed to tick off most of the big items on an actor’s ultimate bucket list, and he’s still only 20. Since Heartstopper, Locke has performed in The Trials on the West End stage, and taken Broadway by storm in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, showcasing crystal-clear vocal chops. Next, he’s set to appear in Marvel’s upcoming series, Agatha All Along, which is what brings him to a Shoreditch photo studio on a pleasant day in May.

“Growing up, this is what I always wanted to do,” he says, as we take a seat in a quiet corner of the studio to reflect on the ascent of Locke’s career since our last conversation. Few words other than meteoric seem adequate to describe it. “Now that it’s happened, it is weird to look back on, and I feel very grateful. I know how lucky I am, and how lucky I’ve been, and how lucky I hope to continue to be. I think people sometimes think that we take it for granted, but we definitely don’t. It’s been an amazing experience.”

Looking back at Heartstopper’s debut in 2022, Locke remembers a “pretty crazy” couple of months. “I think once season one came out, we all thought it would slow down, but it hasn’t, which has been great,” he says. “I’m very lucky that it hasn’t. [I] feel very lucky that I’ve been able to jump on it and run with it for as long as I have, and I hope I can for a while longer.”

As well as a rapid influx in social media followers, newfound fame came with other challenges. Then only 19, Locke spent his days flying back and forth between home on the Isle of Man, where he had school exams, and London, where he’d attend all sorts of fancy events while his school friends probably watched on from their smartphones. As a result, he’s now deeply acquainted with Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal (which he hates), boasting he often arrives for flights 35 minutes before takeoff as he has learnt the quickest way through security. Reflecting on the early days of fame and the novelty of attending celebrity parties, he says, “It was so much fun getting to do it, whereas [now] I’m an old man and I’m like, ‘I can’t be bothered to go to that, I’m gonna go to bed.’” I remind him he’s only 20. He laughs it off. “Oh, yeah. But I don’t know, you age quickly in this industry.” 

Heartstopper may have launched Locke’s career, but Agatha All Along looks set to take it to the next level. The series, a spinoff from WandaVision, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first foray into television via Disney+, focuses on Agatha Harkness, played by the incomparable Kathryn Hahn. At the end of WandaVision, it was revealed via the camp and catchy tune ‘Agatha All Along’ that Agatha was manipulating events as she tried to gain the powers of Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) for herself. After a blockbuster-level CGI battle of the witches, Wanda, who had unintentionally held the people of Westview under a powerful hex, freed its residents, but punished Agatha by trapping her within her fake persona of nosy neighbour Agnes.

Disney is famed for its secrecy, so Rolling Stone UK is only allowed to see a few short clips of the series the night before Locke’s shoot. The official trailer, unsurprisingly, reveals very little. We see Agatha as Agnes, now a detective. The mysterious appearance of a body sets in motion a journey for Agatha to break free of Wanda’s spell and to set out to reclaim her powers along “the Witches’ Road”. According to the series’ synopsis, this is “a magical gauntlet of trials that, if survived, rewards a witch with what they’re missing”. There are glimpses of Patti LuPone, Aubrey Plaza, Debra Jo Rupp, Sasheer Zamata and more. Visually, the series looks very different from anything else in the MCU. Tonally, though, it fits right in, balancing comedy with action and leaning towards darker, more twisted, horror and fantasy.

“I can say that it’s a dark comedy about witches. It’s not what you would usually expect from a Marvel series,” Locke teases. He can also divulge that his character, Teen, is the one who helps free Agatha from the spell and persuades her to let him accompany her on the Witches’ Road. “We gather a coven and a very unlikely group of women and me — which is my life in general — get on the Witches’ Road. Then magic, fun and mystery prevails.”

It sounds like WandaVision, with Locke alluding to “many twists and turns which I’m very excited for the world to see”. In another parallel with its origin series, Agatha All Along appears to have taken inspiration from other popular tales. There are shades of The Wizard of Oz with its central character’s quest and the presence of a named road, and perhaps a hint of Mary Poppins and even The Exorcist.

Locke confirms the influence of classic stories. “It goes through every genre, which won’t make sense until you watch it. In the same way WandaVision goes through all these different subgenres of comedies, Agatha does that in a different way,” he says. “It’s definitely darker,” he adds. This wasn’t the vibe he got while filming, but having watched some scenes, he’s reevaluated. “It’s actually a little bit scary, which is good. I think it’s a great start for a new journey within the MCU of exploring different types of characters that aren’t like Iron Man or Captain America. It’s a new type of superhero, which I think is exciting.”

Among MCU fans, the general consensus is that the franchise peaked with 2019’s mega-blockbuster Avengers: Endgame. The 181-minute-long action-adventure was the culmination of all 21 films that came before. With the launch of Disney+, Marvel brought its characters to the streaming platform beginning with WandaVision, often rated by fans as the pinnacle of Marvel’s television output to date. Fans also began to comment that the studio’s high standards began to wane under the weight of its output and an increasingly interconnected and complex universe of stories spanning film and television. The inevitable pushback and questions over ‘superhero fatigue’ were raised as box-office takings dropped.

Locke’s comments offer hope for Marvel’s fans that a corner is about to be turned. “I think, like a lot of companies, Marvel was basking in the glory of the streaming boom during lockdown, and so a lot of things were being made, and people were spread too thin. But they have learnt from that,” he says. “Personally, they should just let [WandaVision and Agatha All Along creator] Jac Schaeffer do everything she wants and then it would be amazing. I think they know that too. I think our show’s really good.”

Coming into the project, Locke expected Disney to be prescriptive with how things were done, but he was surprised to get on set and find that the cast and crew were given freedom to experiment, with scenes being rewritten on the fly. Working alongside comedians such as Hahn as well as icons like LuPone gave Locke new opportunities to grow.

“I learnt more in six months than I have learnt my whole life. Not only acting, but as a person,” he continues, referencing the women in the cast. “They all take up their space in a way that is like they know their worth, but not in a way that is damaging to anyone else. It’s really powerful. They’re also amazing at what they do.”

Asked about his biggest personal takeaway from Agatha All Along, Locke distinguishes between the two series that he’s starred in. “Heartstopper was an amazing experience because it brought me my dream career and my best friends,” he says. “Whereas [in] Agatha, I felt like an actor for the first time. I don’t know how to describe it other than that.” He clarifies that he doesn’t mean that as a disservice to Heartstopper; he’s speaking as a perfectionist. “That’s just how I am with a lot of things in my life. Agatha was the first time I was like, ‘Maybe I’m not so shit.’”

Expanding further, he says, “I think I matured a lot while shooting Agatha. With Heartstopper, we were all kids when we started it. Somebody would say we still are, but [with] Agatha, I always felt like ‘This is adult shit. I’m going into this on the same plane as everyone else.’ It was a big change, but a good one.”

Another big change for Locke was his character. Teen, who fans speculate will be renamed during the series, is described in the official synopsis as “a suspicious goth”. Locke starts to elaborate before faltering and checking his phone to avoid the wrath of the MCU spoiler police. Once he’s clarified the position, he starts up again. “It’s Teen who asks Agatha to go down the Witches’ Road and she agrees. At the start of the series, I’m the familiar of the group, but as the series goes on, when the group becomes closer, it’s interesting dynamics that form.”

In what is familiar territory for Locke, Teen identifies as gay. “He is, yes,” Locke is allowed to say when prompted. LGBTQ+ representation, or rather, lack of it, is another area where the MCU has faced criticism. To date, despite existing since 2008’s Iron Man and having a wealth of source material to work from, the MCU has yet to place queer characters and stories front and centre. There have been fleeting LGBTQ+ references, from Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) with his husband and son in Eternals to Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) bisexuality receiving a brief mention in season one of the Disney+ series Loki. And there have been plenty of other blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments, too.

I’m cautiously optimistic when Locke says that Agatha is “definitely a very LGBTQ+ show” (and not just because it features gay icon Patti LuPone), as Marvel execs and past cast members have made similar statements about previous series that were then not quite borne out.

Locke is only the second out queer actor to come into the MCU and play a queer character (the first was Tessa Thompson, who played Valkyrie), yet he didn’t feel any pressure. “I was excited to take the part,” he says. Compared to Heartstopper, where his character Charlie Spring’s sexuality is a plotline, in Agatha, it’s less of a focus. “The way it’s explored in the show is very truthful and very positive,” he says, drawing a connection to Heartstopper in telling positive — and authentic — LGBTQ+ stories. “His sexuality is just one part of the character.”

Continuing the theme, Locke says, “I’m really excited that the MCU are bringing in queer characters, because a lot of people watch Marvel films, including people [with] very different opinions on the world. If you try and change someone’s opinion by telling them they’re wrong and they’re a horrible person, they’re just going to double down on their opinions. The way to change someone’s opinion is by showing them a positive example of that. By introducing Teen, hopefully that’s a positive way of changing people’s opinions.

“There are not many things that unite the whole world, but Marvel films are one of them. Most countries will [show] the new Marvel film. Disney don’t have to bow down to the will of other countries that might make them cut the queer character, so it’s great that maybe they can show it to those countries.”

As the conversation continues, it becomes clear that Locke felt some responsibility when it came to dealing with sexuality for his Heartstopper role. “It’s really important to push the idea that no matter who you are, or what you identify as, or your sexuality, you’re allowed happiness,” he told Attitude in 2022. The cultural impact of Heartstopper is hard to deny: it has been mentioned in the House of Commons and it has gained a fanbase beyond its LGBTQ+ audience. “Part of me doesn’t want the same responsibility with Teen, which probably is my own homophobia to myself more than anything,” he says. “But it is a part of him and he’s very proud of that. And everyone else is very accepting of it in the show.”

What queer audiences want is for queer characters and stories to be treated like any other. They want stories like Heartstopper that offer positive narratives, as well as those which recognise the community’s trauma and pain. Discourse is ongoing about all of these, as are those about using terminology such as an actor being ‘openly’ gay. All this is to say that there is a strong drive for change. The fact that Teen’s sexuality isn’t a focus of Agatha All Along doesn’t mean it’s not positive representation. “Sort of selfishly, I didn’t really think of that,” opines Locke. “It’s not a big thing. It was the next step of acceptance. It’s great having a positive representation, but one day it should get to a point where it’s not even a conversation topic because it’s so normal.”

Agatha has been the next step for him, moving from a show dealing explicitly with sexuality to one that doesn’t but which doesn’t shy away from highlighting it in a meaningful way. “It was almost a good thing that I didn’t have to do that, not a negative,” he insists.

Part of the fun that has come with working with Disney is the secrecy. “The secrets and the twists and the turns of the show will only work if they’re kept, and the secrets are revealed when the show airs,” says Locke. He’s excited at knowing something few others do. He’s also enjoyed watching fans speculate online. “Some people are weirdly accurate. And some are way off and it’s funny.” The question is: does Locke have burner accounts for his surveillance activities? “I do,” he confirms smugly. “I don’t say anything on them. I just look at things.”

Back in 2022, the central four cast members of Heartstopper — Joe, Kit, Yasmin, and Will — attended the Attitude Awards. The first season had been released months earlier and became an overnight success, generating numerous fan accounts, column inches and garnering the cast members millions of loyal fans. As they strolled up the red carpet, there was a sense of ‘been there, done that’. The same four had attended the Awards a year earlier. Pictures of the young cast were a hit with fans of the webcomic online. Watching them, then like deer in the headlights, you got the sense they had no idea what was to come.

Heartstopper season three is due in October. Asked if he thought they’d ever reach a third season when they started filming season one, Locke replies earnestly, “I’m a very optimistic person, so I did. We all saw the joy in the show we were making, even when Netflix and other people didn’t. They all do now, which is great, but especially in season one, we were definitely on our own.”

Locke has already admitted that his Heartstopper role has come with pressure. Countless people look to him and the series for hope of a bright future for LGBTQ+ people. The rose-tinted reality the show depicts is not a tangible one for those who have gone through life encountering abuse and discrimination, but it is an aspiration to strive for. “Season one was the least pressure,” says Locke. “Season two was the most pressure,” having come after a successful launch. “And season three was in the middle. We were all just older, wiser, better.”

Locke teases, “I think season three is the strongest. We’ve all got better at acting. I think season three is the strongest writing, the strongest everything from everyone.” Much excitement has been caused by Bridgerton and Wicked heartthrob Jonathan Bailey joining the cast. Locke promises that “Johnny” lives up to Henry Maddox, the character from the comics his role — as Jack Maddox — is based on. “Johnny is a wonderfully lovely guy. I met him just after season one came out, and the first thing he said was ‘I want to be in the show.’ That didn’t work out for season two, but I’m really happy that he has joined for season three. He’s the perfect casting for the hot history professor.”

And while we have plenty of Heartstopper to look forward to (season four is unconfirmed at this point), Alice Oseman, its creator, has previously said she knows how the story ends, with volume six of the webcomic due to be the final instalment. At the end of May 2024, the writer confirmed she had a first draft but that drawing it would take “at least 18 months, if not longer”. Locke knows nothing of the ending (yet) and tells us he’s not sure how it’ll feel to one day say goodbye to his character Charlie, other than his belief it’ll all end happily.

“One of the nice things is that you can watch the show — and especially in season three, we definitely have darker moments — but what’s nice is you can always watch knowing that it’s gonna be fine in the end. They’re gonna be OK.”

Locke is unlikely to ever be able to fully step away from Heartstopper, especially with how fandoms work in 2024. His admirers, for the most part, are genuine supporters. However, he has spoken out before about fans needing to learn boundaries after they bothered members of his family. He’s got better at drawing lines for himself. “I’m comfortable saying, ‘That’s not something that I want the whole world to know,’” he says. “There’s also something comforting about knowing that, yes, millions of people might know what your face looks like, but they actually don’t know you. They don’t really know anything about you and what they do know about you is what you’re willing to share. It’s a weird thing as an actor. There’s Joe Locke, the actor, business, and the career, and then there’s me as the person. Sometimes the lines are blurred, but they’re still different.”

Locke’s experiences with Heartstopper have prepared him for whatever response he might get when Agatha debuts. He’s also learnt not to seek out any negativity, which he struggled with at first. Deleting his X (Twitter) account helped and was “the best thing”, he shares. He acknowledges that he’ll have blips where he seeks out the negativity and wants to react. But he displays a healthy mentality. “At the end of the day, my job is the acting and anything else that comes along with that has nothing to do with me. They’re their opinions. They’re not for me to know.”

As for the impact his fame has had on his family, Locke feels guilty for asking them to make social accounts private or not to share childhood images of him. He says it’s all done out of love, and a need to protect everyone and maintain a semblance of privacy. But it’s not easy. “They’ve not done anything wrong. That’s the thing that still irks me the most,” laments Locke. “And I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to be comfortable with the effect that my life choices have on the people I love.”

One of Locke’s first auditions was for The Wizard of Oz at his local theatre. Aged six, he got a callback for one of the Munchkins. He didn’t get the part as he left the audition in tears because he didn’t want to do it again. But after this early hiccup, he spent the following years doing numerous shows, and has vivid memories of the Isle of Man’s Gaiety Theatre with its musty smell and dust-covered interior. At this point Locke comes to a realisation with Agatha, which he describes as “basically The Wizard of Oz”. He laughs, “It’s very full circle.”

Life growing up in Douglas on the Isle of Man was “the best”, he says. Hailing from a working-class background, Locke has had to learn to feel like he belongs in the rooms he often finds himself in these days. This is something he believes private school kids grow up feeling inherently. He takes a second to consider his journey so far. “I was always taught that I could do what I wanted if I worked hard enough. Most of what I’ve achieved has been luck, but I think I’ve done a lot with the luck I was given,” he says. I counter that Locke’s success is a confluence of many things. Luck and timing, yes, but also being open to opportunities. “Sometimes you over-egg the luck to make yourself feel less bad,” Locke concedes before reaffirming, “I do feel very lucky, but I’ve not taken it for granted.”

As a fully paid-up star of stage and screen, Locke’s work ethic has also evolved. “I used to take on too much, whereas now I’ve got a healthy relationship with it. I’ve always been a people pleaser and so therefore a hard worker. Whether the hard work is because I want to do hard work or because I want to impress people is very different, but I’ve got a healthy relationship with it, which therefore helps everyone around you.”

Looking ahead to what else he can achieve career-wise, Locke reiterates a desire to be Disney’s first gay prince. “I still would do that. I’d love to be in an action film, do something really macho, but in my way, not necessarily the most macho way.” Bond? “I would love to do James Bond. I’ve not done any films yet, so I’d love to do a film.”

As the conversation draws to a close, I wonder if he can see himself being an actor forever. “I hope so,” he answers. “What’s great about this career is it’s so diverse and you can always do things that fulfil you in some way. If I wanted to go to university and get a degree, I could do that. But I hope I’m able to do this for the rest of my life. And if not, then we’ll figure that out.” It’s a typically mature and considered answer from a young actor much wiser than his years.

Now Locke has to go. He has a dinner party later and needs to make a cake. As I leave the shoot, I remember the young man I first met in Slough and conclude: Joe’s all grown up.

Days later, we reconnect via a conference call. “It was all right,” says Locke as I ask about the party. “I went to bed quite early,” he adds. It might be the call, but I suspect Joe’s not long woken up. And the cake never got made in the end — he was too tired from the shoot.

While Locke’s life might seem glamorous, as a self-professed “introverted extrovert”, a dinner party with friends is something he enjoys more than anxiety-inducing celeb parties. “I’d much rather go for cocktails with 10 people than go to a club.” It’s his friends and family that keep his feet firmly on the ground and playfully chide him should he say anything “a bit diva-y”. They have also helped him navigate all the changes that the past two years in the public eye has brought. The bond clearly means a lot. When asked what makes him happy, he replies, “Surrounding myself with the people that I love.” And that applies to work, too: “I’m very happy to call what I’m passionate about in life as my job.”

Photography by Kosmas Pavlos
Creative and styling by Joseph Kocharian
Grooming by Sandra Hahnel using Augustinus Bader, Glossier, Ouai, and GHD
Photography Assistant: Luke Johnson
Fashion Assistant: Aaron Pandher

Taken from the August/September issue of Rolling Stone UK – you can buy it here now.