Joe Locke Movies and TV Shows 2026: Every Role, Award, and Upcoming Project From Heartstopper to Elsinore Impressive

Ask a fan how they first met Joe Locke and you will hear a few different answers. Some watched Charlie Spring fall for Nick Nelson on Netflix, some spotted him in Marvel’s witchy Disney+ miniseries, and some caught him on Broadway. That spread is exactly why people search for Joe Locke movies and tv shows, since his career already spans streaming, superhero franchises, and the stage, all before his 23rd birthday, which arrives today, 24 September 2026.

Here is the short version. His best-known screen work is Heartstopper (Netflix, 2022–2024) and its finale film Heartstopper Forever (July 2026), plus the Marvel Studios miniseries Agatha All Along (Disney+, 2024). He also has festival-bound films on the way, including Black Church Bay and Elsinore. Beyond screens, he has performed on Broadway and the West End.

This guide sorts every major credit by type and year, explains what each role meant for his career, and covers his Emmy recognition. It also gives a sensible watching order and flags the mistakes that crop up on outdated fan pages. Where details come from published reporting, we say so.

The Complete List: A Quick Answer to Joe Locke Movies and TV Shows

Joe Locke’s screen credits fall into three groups. On television, he starred in the Netflix series Heartstopper, which ran for three series of eight episodes each, and in Marvel Studios’ Agatha All Along on Disney+. In film, he led the feature-length finale Heartstopper Forever, and he has several upcoming movies, including Black Church Bay, Elsinore, and an indie horror titled Baby. On stage, he appeared in the Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd and in the West End play Clarkston.

This is a short list compared with veteran actors, and that is worth stating plainly. He is a young performer who broke through in 2022, so every credit carries weight. Wikipedia lists his years active as 2022 to the present, which means the entire filmography has been built in only a few years. Anyone hoping for a long back catalogue of earlier roles will not find one, because Heartstopper was his first on-screen role.

For readers who want a fast reference, the cleanest way to think about it is by format. If you want a TV series, watch Heartstopper. If you want a superhero spin-off, watch Agatha All Along. If you want a movie, watch Heartstopper Forever now and keep an eye on the October film festival titles. The sections below unpack each one.

Who Is Joe Locke? Background and Breakout

Joseph William Locke was born on 24 September 2003 and grew up in Douglas, on the Isle of Man, which is why he is described as a Manx actor. Before television, he performed in a National Theatre Connections production in 2020, which gave him early stage experience. Prior to Heartstopper, that theatre work was essentially his acting résumé.

His breakthrough came through an open casting call. According to profile reporting, he was chosen from around 10,000 people who auditioned for the role of Charlie Spring, and it was announced in April 2021 that he had landed his debut television part. He was 17 during filming, while the character is a schoolboy of about 14 to 15, which is a common casting approach in teen dramas.

That background matters for understanding his later choices. An actor who begins with a lead role in a hit series has two options: repeat the same type of role or deliberately stretch. As the later sections show, his more recent projects lean toward the second path, mixing family-friendly fantasy with darker adult thrillers.

Heartstopper: The Series That Started Everything

Heartstopper is a British coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama created and written by Alice Oseman for Netflix, based on her webcomic and graphic novel series. It follows two teenagers at Truham Grammar School whose friendship grows into a romance, with Kit Connor playing Nick Nelson and Joe Locke playing Charlie Spring. Three series of eight episodes each were released, on 22 April 2022, 3 August 2023, and 3 October 2024.

The show earned praise for Oseman’s writing, the performances of both leads, and its warm portrayal of LGBTQ+ young people. The third series in particular tackled heavier material, and Locke’s character Charlie seeks treatment for anorexia and OCD in the emotionally intense fourth episode, “Journey.” That episode won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Young Teen Series, showing how far the show moved beyond simple teen romance.

For Locke, the role established a baseline. He became a household name among younger viewers and drew a devoted fan community, which gave him the leverage to make bolder career choices later. Think of Heartstopper as the foundation of a house. It is not the whole building, but every later room rests on it.

Heartstopper Forever: The Finale Film

Netflix announced in April 2025 that the story would conclude with a feature-length finale rather than a fourth series. Heartstopper Forever, written by Alice Oseman and directed by Wash Westmoreland, premiered at Cineworld Leicester Square on 14 July 2026 and reached Netflix worldwide on 17 July 2026. The running time is 114 minutes, and the film received generally positive reviews.

The plot follows Nick and Charlie as they navigate a long-distance relationship when Nick prepares to leave for university, with Leeds emerging as his top choice. Charlie, meanwhile, is voted Head Boy on an anti-bullying platform and helps establish a Pride club at school. Locke and Kit Connor also served as executive producers, which signals a move from performer to creative stakeholder.

This film is the closing chapter, so it works best as the final stop in a viewing marathon. It is also a milestone in Locke’s career, since it marks the end of the role that made his name. Character-defining roles are a blessing and a challenge, and finishing one on a high note gives an actor room to move on without leaving fans behind.

Agatha All Along: Joe Locke in the Marvel Universe

In November 2022, it was announced that Locke had joined Agatha All Along, the Disney+ spin-off of WandaVision, and the series arrived in 2024 with Kathryn Hahn in the title role. He plays a teenage character who is eventually revealed to be Billy Maximoff, also known as Wiccan, one of Marvel’s best-known young heroes. The role placed him inside one of the largest franchises in entertainment.

The performance earned recognition. Profile listings note a Film Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Breakthrough Performance in 2025, and the miniseries received multiple award nominations overall. For a young actor, an MCU role is a double-edged opportunity. It brings global visibility, but it can also lock a performer into franchise expectations, so how he approaches later projects matters.

An easy way to place it is by tone. Heartstopper is realistic and tender, while Agatha All Along is fantasy, humor, and ensemble spectacle. Watching both shows how comfortably he moves between registers, and it explains why casting directors see him as versatile rather than typecast.

Emmy Recognition and Awards

The biggest honor so far is a Children’s and Family Emmy for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Preschool, Children’s or Young Teen Program. He received two nominations in that category and won on the second, an achievement reported in March 2026. Fans greeted the news with celebratory posts, with one headline capturing the mood by quoting the reaction “So deserved.”

That win puts him alongside his Heartstopper co-star Kit Connor, who is also an Emmy winner, and it reflects how the show performed at the ceremony overall. The series was nominated in several categories, including Outstanding Young Teen Series and Outstanding Directing for a Live Action Series, and it won for writing.

The Spirit Award nomination for Agatha All Along adds another data point. Taken together, the recognition shows that critics see his work as more than fan-favorite material. For anyone reading about Joe Locke movies and tv shows for the first time, the awards record is a useful trust signal, because it shows industry peers have taken notice of the acting itself.

Stage Work: Sweeney Todd and Clarkston

Although the search intent behind this topic focuses on screens, his theatre credits deserve a place. He made his Broadway debut in the 2024 revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, playing Tobias Ragg, and he made his West End debut in the play Clarkston in 2025. Those credits demonstrate live-performance skills that not every screen actor has.

Stage work also shapes screen acting. Theatre demands vocal control, sustained concentration, and comfort performing without retakes, and those skills tend to show up in later on-camera roles. That may help explain why his performances often feel emotionally precise, especially in dramatic scenes.

For readers building a complete picture of his career, the stage credits also show ambition. Moving from a teen streaming hit to a Sondheim revival on Broadway is a deliberate step toward more demanding material, and it fits the pattern seen in his upcoming film choices.

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Upcoming Projects: Black Church Bay, Elsinore, and Baby

The next chapter of Joe Locke movies and tv shows looks noticeably more adult. Black Church Bay is a psychological mystery-thriller written and directed by Rhys Marc Jones, adapted from Elizabeth Day’s 2017 novel. It is set in a remote Welsh coastal village, with Locke playing Jasper, a sixth-form student whose disappearance drives the plot, opposite Tom Cullen. It screens at the BFI London Film Festival on 15 and 17 October, and the material is serious and mature, a clear departure from Heartstopper.

He also appears in Elsinore, a biopic of Scottish actor Ian Charleson, who performed Hamlet at Britain’s National Theatre during the last months of his life while living with HIV. Andrew Scott plays Charleson, and the cast includes Olivia Colman, Juliet Stevenson, Billie Piper, and Peter Mullan. The film is the opening title of the London Film Festival.

A third project, an indie horror titled Baby, appears in his listings, though public details are limited, so treat specifics as unconfirmed until more official information arrives. One entertainment outlet described the trend well, calling this “more mature new phase” of his career. Because release plans for festival films can shift, check the official festival schedule before planning to watch.

Filmography at a Glance

The table below organizes his major credits by title, format, and role, so readers can scan the whole picture quickly. It reflects published reporting as of late September 2026.

Reading down the table, you can see a deliberate progression. The early rows show a youth-focused streaming lead and a franchise debut, the middle rows add stage credibility, and the latest rows move into adult drama and festival cinema. A career arc like that is why searches for Joe Locke movies and tv shows tend to spike after each new announcement.

Best Watching Order and Where to Stream

New viewers often face a small problem. They know the name but not where to begin, and a scattered list of credits can feel overwhelming. The simplest solution is to watch in release order, which follows his growth as an actor and keeps the story context clean.

Start with the three series of Heartstopper on Netflix, then watch Heartstopper Forever, since it continues directly from the third series. After that, move to Agatha All Along on Disney+, which works as a standalone miniseries, though familiarity with WandaVision adds context. Then look ahead to the October festival films as they roll out. For the stage work, keep an eye out for filmed productions or cast recordings.

Streaming availability changes by country and by month, so the safest habit is to check a service such as JustWatch or the platform’s own search before committing. Netflix hosts the Heartstopper titles and Disney+ carries the Marvel series in most regions, but licensing can vary. A watchlist plan of about a dozen episodes at a time also prevents burnout.

How His Choices Show Range

Looking at the whole list, the pattern is clear. He began with a gentle, character-driven series, moved into franchise fantasy, then stepped into theatre and adult cinema. That mix reads like a deliberate portfolio, the kind of variety agents and casting directors recommend to avoid typecasting.

An analogy from sport helps. A young player who becomes famous for one position can extend a career by proving they can play elsewhere on the field. Locke’s shift toward thrillers and biopics does something similar, showing a range of moods, from vulnerability to menace to ensemble comedy. Even the production credit on Heartstopper Forever adds another dimension, since executive producing shows interest in shaping projects behind the camera.

For readers researching Joe Locke movies and tv shows to gauge where his career is heading, the takeaway is that variety is likely to continue. Festival premieres in October will offer the first real test of how audiences respond to his more mature work.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Fan sites and quick-summary pages often repeat outdated details, which creates a real problem for anyone trying to get accurate information. One frequent error is listing a fourth series of Heartstopper, when the story actually concluded with a feature-length film. Another is quoting his age as 22 after his birthday, since he turns 23 on 24 September 2026. Award timelines also get muddled, because the Emmy recognition was reported in March 2026 for his 2025 nomination cycle.

The solution is a short verification habit. Check the publication date of any page, compare it with a reliable database such as Wikipedia or a streaming service listing, and treat unconfirmed titles cautiously. Projects such as Baby are a good example, since details remain limited and can change before release.

Applying that habit to any Joe Locke movies and tv shows list keeps information trustworthy. It also protects against spoilers and false release dates, which can be frustrating when planning a movie night or a festival trip.

Frequently Asked Questions