Heartstopper star Joe Locke will play pregnant sex worker in new horror movie

Having carved a name for himself in drama-romance, Heartstopper actor Joe Locke has turned his attention to an altogether more sinister genre.

According to showbiz insiders, the 22-year-old's next project will see him play 'a young male sex worker who becomes pregnant'.

I know, a major U-turn from his role as Netflix's favourite baby-faced high-schooler, Charlie Spring.

Locke is set to star in a sci-fi horror movie titled Baby, the plot of which sounds just as bizarre as the lead character's storyline.

He recently took to Instagram, revealing that filming on the eerie production had finally wrapped.

Locke teased his upcoming project online (Instagram/@joelocke03)

In the snap, Locke could be seen sitting in a car with soaking wet hair, holding a bunch of flowers. He wrote the text, 'That's a wrap BABY', over the hotly-debated images, along with an alien movie.

Now, if you're perplexed by the logistics of his character's predicament, producers at Luca Intili and Kindred Spirit have explained that he'll be impregnated by 'a mysterious creature'.

Many members of the queer community responded to this revelation with excitement, with 'mpreg' (referring to the meaning male pregnancy) being a long-running fan-fic trope.

The film's director also shared a teaser online (Instagram/@sam___max)

A user named @TwinkTheory joked: "Well, it’s an original concept."

Another, with the username @sprjngbags, added: "Congratulations to Joe Locke for being the first to bring mpreg to our screens."

Locke himself also teased his upcoming role, commenting 'lol' in the comments of a post shared by Gay Times captioned, 'Joe Locke to play pregnant sex worker in wild new horror film'.

The film's director, Sam Max, described Baby as a 'body horror', revealing that it relies on a number of gory prosthetics and special effects.

Locke's character becomes pregnant 'by a mysterious creature' (Instagram/@sam___max)

Max recently shared a shot on Instagram, showing an alien sitting in a bathtub spattered by blood.

"Wrapped my first feature yesterday. Hardest 28 days of my life. Departed reality entirely," he captioned the creepy snap. "Thank you for the dream, to everyone who touched this shoot.

"I hardly have the words, only that I’m in a surreal place and I won’t come back for a long time. I’ll never, ever forget you. Touched/moved… I’ll make you proud and can’t wait to share it with you."