Twink No More! Joe Locke is Breaking the “Twink” Typecast | Joe Locke on Marvel, Muscles, and Making Space for More Than One Kind of Queer Leading Man
Joe Locke is ready to break out of the mold—and bulk up while he’s at it.
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The 21-year-old actor, best known for melting hearts in Netflix’s Heartstopper alongside Kit Connor, is trading in soft curls and teen angst for protein shakes and “straight bro” vibes. With his latest role in Agatha All Along, Marvel’s witchy new Disney+ series, Locke has re-emerged not only as a rising star but as someone actively redefining what queer masculinity looks like onscreen.
Charlie Cox interview – From Twink to Tank?
While co-star Kit Connor has been flexing his Shakespearean muscles (and actual muscles) in a shirtless turn as Romeo on Broadway opposite Rachel Zegler, Locke has taken a different route: eyeliner, ancient magic, and the occasional cauldron. In Agatha All Along, he plays Billy—also known as Wiccan—though viewers might have caught him in the credits simply as “Teen.”
In a recent Variety conversation with Marvel alum Charlie Cox, Locke opened up about the journey to landing the role. It took 12 auditions for what was then only labeled as an “Untitled Marvel Show,” but it was worth the grind. Locke says working with industry veterans like Patti LuPone has been transformative. The two have become fast friends, with LuPone even showing up to support Locke during his recent run in Sweeney Todd on Broadway.
“I’ve always been like a Broadway theater kid,” Joe Locke said on the TODAY Show. “And I think [Patti] is like the epitome of class and talent… She’s everything I want to be. And she’s now one of my best friends, which is really amazing.” (Just maybe don’t ask Audra McDonald for a comment.)
Still, despite a Marvel makeover and a Broadway breakthrough, Joe Locke is hungry for more—literally. The actor is working to bulk up, in hopes of escaping a casting rut.
“At the moment, a lot of the auditions I get sent are for the same skinny gay twinks—which is great. And I’m really good at playing that, because I am a skinny gay twink,” Locke told Cox. “I’m struggling now [because] I want to do the opposite of that. I’ve been trying to put on weight recently. I just can’t do it.”
Although he initially believed Agatha All Along might be his ticket to a buffer on-screen look, showrunner Jac Schaeffer had other ideas—opting to keep Locke’s lean frame intact for the role.
With no official plans for a second season of Agatha All Along, Joe Locke now has the freedom to sculpt the next chapter of his career, both literally and figuratively. Whether that means heading to the gym or heading to Hollywood in search of more diverse roles, one thing’s certain: Joe Locke isn’t staying in his twink era forever.
He’s just getting started.
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