Small spoilers ahead for Heartstopper season 2.
Yasmin Finney is making magic. She is magic. When we meet on the set of Heartstopper season 2, she steps off the Paris hotel room set wearing a warm, thick coat (covering her “truth or dare” scene outfit), the most exquisite blue shoes, and her unique brand of vivacity — see, magic.
The 19-year-old trans trailblazer has become an icon on screen and off, from TikTok fame documenting her experience as a Black trans woman, to the global Netflix number 1s of Heartstopper and a string of magazine covers. This November, Finney will star as Rose, a 15-year-old trans girl, in Doctor Who’s trilogy of 60th anniversary specials, alongside David Tennant and Catherine Tate.
Finney is, rightly characterized by writer Lexi McMenamin in her Teen Vogue New Hollywood cover story, “the type of woman so radically self-actualized, so incandescent, she makes you think, unbidden, of fairy tales.” There’s a softness, too — to be a young woman in the position she’s in, the gratitude shines out of her, but she suffers no doubts about her belonging in this space. She owns it.
Finney finds her Heartstopper character Elle's artistic passion to be so beautiful, so rare in her eyes. If only she’d had a passion like that when she was at school, something she knew that she wanted to do. “Not only is she navigating the world as a trans woman,” Finney tells Teen Vogue on set in a roundtable with Tudum, “but she’s also figuring out what she wants to do. And she knows exactly what she wants to do, and her path is set.”
Elle balances a lot mentally, too. “She’s got Tao that she may have to leave behind, potentially, when she goes off and does her thing. But I think the main thing is, she's realized that her happiness is priority. And her passion is art. And it's so magical to just be able to play a role that delves into that.”
Filming season 2 brought Finney to Paris, and crucially, the Louvre. “It was like Elle in Paris, not Emily in Paris. That’s what it was giving,” Finney said in the show’s press notes. It was nice to shoot with limited personnel, because “usually on a set, you’ve got so many people in the room that are watching you,” but for Elle and Tao’s kiss, the small crew made it feel intimate. “We’ve made a lot of magic moments,” Finney says on set. “It just fills my heart with joy to have a love story [where] a trans person is just happy and positive. And they get to just be in love in such a natural way. And in the Louvre that’s [closed]. I mean, you can’t really beat that.”
Finney keeps a tight lip on set about Doctor Who (“I do have spies that follow me around”), though fans have speculated that Rose is the daughter of Tate’s character, which means that beloved companion Donna Noble had a child and stood by her through her transition. She more recently confirmed that she’ll share the screen with Ncuti Gatwa, who Tennant will “regenerate” into for the new season. (Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor described regeneration like this: “There's echoes of who I was, and a sort of call towards who I am, and I have to hold my nerve and trust all these new instincts. Shape myself towards them.”) While it’s unclear what Finney’s storyline will be in the specials, as a trans girl opposite a recently regenerated Doctor, we’re sure Finney’s Rose will understand the feeling.
Perhaps there might even be a spot for Finney as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK or the UK vs The World offshoot. “It’s happening,” Finney jokes, “Well, I don’t know if it’s happening but hello RuPaul, shout out to you.” Given that the reality show airs on the BBC, Doctor Who’s home network, what better synergy than to have her join the judging panel during the 60th anniversary year.
The day of the set visit in November 2022, it’s just two days following the shooting at the LGBTQ+ nightclub Club Q in Colorado Springs. It underscores the significance of being on set to witness the making of this queer show that has resonated and rippled everywhere; they’re two very wide extremes.
“The world is such a beautiful place, but it’s also such a horrible place, especially for queer people,” Finney says. “Even here in the U.K., we’ve got a new prime minister and our rights are potentially being removed from trans people. It just feels like we’re going backwards and forwards, and backwards and forwards. I’m just really blessed to be on a set and to be alive and to be healthy, and to be playing a role that will be giving those people that aren't as lucky as me a dream, basically.”
Looking to the future, Yasmin Finney’s motivation is unchanged from our conversation in May last year. Change the industry; be the change in the industry. “We’ll know that the industry is truly changing when we have trans people being able to play not only trans roles,” she says, “but roles that just don't specify any gender identity. I think that's really important. And hopefully in the future, I'll be able to deliver a role like that.”