Sex Education‘s Ncuti Gatwa has opened up about his character’s journey in season three of the show.
The new season, which is streaming now on Netflix, shows his character undergo more developments as the season progresses. However, it also saw a backlash from fans which followed on from his character’s decision to enter a relationship with Adam, who had previously been seen bulling his character Eric in the show for years.
Speaking about the backlash to E! News, Ncuti said he tried to get into the “mental space” of Eric Effiong, who is more than a decade younger than he is, before judging him for his actions.
“16-year-olds don’t make the best decisions for themselves,” he said, adding “queer youth don’t have a blueprint for life.”
“[But] you would not be encouraging him to get with somebody that has beat him up for six years.”
Ncuti went on to say despite this, there’s a “connection” between the high schoolers. “It’s a relationship of two people that really care about each other and have a connection with each other,” he explained, adding “but it hasn’t came from the healthiest beginnings, it has been a toxic relationship up until this point, and throughout season two as well.”
“I think the relationship is quite, it’s very bittersweet isn’t it?” he said. “I don’t know that they ever get the happy moment, because I think they’re constantly still trying to figure out themselves, and trying to figure out how to be themselves with each other.”
“I think Eric was definitely stifling himself for the purpose of Adam’s growth. And now that they’re in this relationship on an equal footing, you have friction there because of the fact that they’re in such different spaces.”
Reviewing season three of the show, NME said: “There are still wise musings on love and adolescence, but season three fails to build on the show’s foundations. Moordale is still the same place fans fell in love with, but these new episodes do little to take that relationship to the next level.”
Sex Education is streaming now on Netflix.
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