Sex Education Stars Talk Season 2, New Flings, And Sex Scene Myths

Sex Education isn’t a sexy show, nevertheless that’s what makes it so relatable. Let’s face it: Sex can be awkward. And the Netflix series has never shied away from showing the uneasy bits that most teen shows gloss over. Case in point, Season 2 leans into the messiness that made the initial season so refreshing.


Otis (Asa Butterfield) is no longer Moordale’s unofficial sex therapist, yet his mother Jean (Gillian Anderson), a licensed sex therapist, has stepped in to be the school’s official classroom advisor. It’s not an ideal situation for Otis — having your mom talk about sex with your peers never is — nevertheless he’s also busy figuring out how to be in an actual relationship with Ola (Patricia Allison) while harboring complex feelings for Maeve (Emma Mackey) and toward his own sexual urges to worry also much about it. Meanwhile, his best friend and soulmate Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) is embracing his newfound popularity and making heart-eyes at the hot new French student. Each person is learning and growing… and experimenting.


MTV News chatted with stars Butterfield and Gatwa about Season 2 (streaming right now, how Otis and Eric are navigating their new relationships, and the sex scene myths the show intelligently debunks.


MTV News: We were on the set of Sex Education Season 2. And Asa, you mentioned that the second season goes a little further, pushes more boundaries. How so?


Asa Butterfield: We have some new characters in Moordale, who are shaking things up a little bit. And we visualize some new issues that Otis supports the assists to tackle and his mum the assists to tackle. So we're discussing some new topics, which is exhilarating because I think it's things that haven't necessarily been in the spotlight before. And our characters, you get a deeper look at their individual worlds and their individual stories.


Ncuti Gatwa: Well said.


MTV News: Ncuti, what about you? How does Season 2 dig deeper into Eric's story?


Gatwa: Eric gets accepted a lot more. He gets into swing band.


Butterfield: Very important.


Gatwa: Which is exhilarating! It's an exhilarating new time in Eric's life. In Season 1, we opened the door and peeked into Moordale a little, and right now we're just totally immersed into the world. All the character's storylines have been deepened so much, and we learned so much about all of these. Eric is a popular boy this year, as is Otis. They're both busy men. And that's interesting.


MTV News: Going into Season 2, did the cast feel more comfortable together? What was the vibe like on set?


Butterfield: We came back plus it really didn't feel like we'd left, in a weird way. Soon after a week it looked like, "Wow, this is strangely familiar." Because we're in the same school, I'm wearing a lot of the same shirts. And it also all felt a lot like the initial season in some ways, which is fantastic because we all get on so well. Yet there were some new things to it as well, keeping us on our toes.


Gatwa: There's a new energy. Everything has sort of leveled up this year. We're bringing a lot more food to the table. This season felt like going back to that really fun summer camp. We all cook for each other and live with each other, and it's just a fun thing to film.


MTV News: Immediately following the success of Season 1, did you all feel a little more pressure going into Season 2?


Gatwa: Hell yeah. I felt like, "My God, I've got to be funny. Was I funny enough today, or what happened?" There was a lot [of pressure] as the show was derived well and thus beautifully. However also like ... oh God.


Butterfield: you have got to live up to expectations. I mean there really is a little bit of that, although because it did well you get a little bit of confidence that what you were doing worked, and the fashion you'd gone for and your choices worked. People fancied it, and also you got renewed confidence. There really is certainly a sense of, "We've got to try and up it from last year." That is a little bit of a challenge, yet you can't really let yourself dwell on that also much. I think we're rather good at just taking it day by day.


Gatwa: And the writing as well, like as soon as we got the scripts... Well, As soon as I got the scripts for it, I was like, "I cannot wait to get stuck into this." It was so good. So I feel like that was a nice thing to be confident in, is that the writing is so strong that this is going to be a good season.


MTV News: Otis does make several jokes in Season 1 about America. And I was thinking how the show could be different if it was set in the U.S. In a American high school. How do you suggest it could be different?


Butterfield: there really are some American elements to the school and the group kind of atmosphere, especially in the clothes we wear and the vibrancy in the school, which I think is quite unique to American schools. In the UK, our colleges are usually quite sort of depressing and colorless... Devoid of life.


Gatwa: I think we required a little bit of American color injected into our British uniformed school. How would it be different? I don't know. I feel like that's a crossover question.


Butterfield: Alternate universe.


Gatwa: We should cross over with Riverdale or Stranger Things or something, and then we'll visualize how that would work.


MTV News: Wow. What would a Riverdale crossover look like with Sex Education?


Butterfield: I'm sure they've got their own sex issues, which we might help out with. I think Eric could be happy for the new jocks joining the school.


Gatwa: I bet he would.


MTV News: Let's talk about Otis and Eric's dynamic in Season 2. Of course, they were the heart of the initial season. Are they still best friends? 


Butterfield: Otis and Eric will never not be together. Whichever happens, whichever girlfriends there really are, whichever boyfriends there really are, these two are going to stick together.


Gatwa: Definitely.


Butterfield: They mean the world to each other, I think.


Gatwa: and so they complete each other. Their union is so pure because they're so different, nevertheless they compliment each other so well. And I think that visualize that and so they understand that, and that's what they love about each other. They love each other's contradictions as well, so they ain't going nowhere.


MTV News: That being mentioned, they do have their own relationships this year. Asa, we'll begin with Otis. He is in a relationship in Season 2, and that's a big deal. What is he like as a boyfriend? He's never been in a relationship.


Butterfield: So Otis has a girlfriend, Ola. And that's a new territory for him. So he's spending a lot of time with her, which Eric isn't also happy about. However he's happy for him, so he's putting up with it.


Gatwa: Eric understands.


Butterfield: Although yeah, he's still Otis, so it's not like he's suddenly become super chill and easy to prepare progress with. So it's small steps in their relationship. Yet you know, steps nonetheless.


Gatwa: He's figuring it out.


MTV News: And where does Otis go to for suggestions while he needs it?


Butterfield: He talks to Eric. I think that's probably his first person. I feel like he shares a lot with Eric. And then his mum as well. As much as he some days pushes her aside, he still understands that she can assist him a lot and opens up to her. Aside from that, he doesn't really have several people to open up to. He tries to open up to his dad, however he doesn't necessarily give the ideal advice.


Gatwa: That's a really interesting relationship that we delve into in Season 2.


Butterfield: It is. We get to be able to see a little more of Remi Milburn.


MTV News: Is there a part of suggestions that that Otis gives, either in the first or second season, that you're like, "That's really good opinions. That's opinions I would use." What's his best part of advice?


Butterfield: He tells someone in Season 2, "Don't rub bleach anywhere on your body." So that's probably pretty good opinions. I think I'd stick by that. Don't rub bleach anywhere.


Gatwa: Otis is full of gems, like full of wisdom. Helping Adam in the toilet in Season 1 was cute. "Don't let anyone suggestions define you." You know?


Butterfield: "Believe in your strengths. Own your strengths." I think that's key to understand. Taking your time, running your own race, not looking at other people. Just do what's best for you.


Gatwa: A lot of little gems. Otis is a very empowering ... I feel like Otis likes to empower people. He likes to empower [others] to live their truest, best lives.


MTV News: He's like Oprah.


Gatwa: Yeah! Oprah of Moordale. We have him here.


MTV News: Ncuti, let's talk about Eric's love life. You're saying there is a lot of eye candy in Season 2 for him to look at. Yet there was this really surprising moment at the end of the Season 1 between Eric and Adam. What's the status of that?


Gatwa: Needless to say, we visualize Adam get shipped off to military boarding school at the end of Season 1. Sad, isn't it? Like Eric has just met someone that might decorative him and he fancies as well, and then they get torn apart. So Season 2, we do visualize Adam return. We also visualize quite a number of people enter Moordale as well, including a young Frenchman by the name of Rahim. He's rumored to be Kim Kardashian's long-lost brother along with a Moroccan billionaire's son. He's very mysterious, a mysterious and cool Parisian dude that just catches Moordale's eye. As well as Eric's eye. He's got a cracking pair of cheekbones as well. Nevertheless Eric is very serious about swing musical group this season — and the French horn.


MTV News: I feel like Adam and Eric are a complex couple to ship because he was so terrible to Eric for so several years. Do you ship them? Do you know fans should be shipping them? 


Gatwa: Yeah, so shipping the Eric and Adam storyline, it's an interesting one. It's tricky. I've seen some very interesting memes people sort of romanticizing Adam pushing Eric into a locker and putting love hearts and romantic music and stuff around it. I would encourage people to not accept or romanticize people pushing you around or grabbing your face and all that sort of stuff. Although at the same time, I feel like Adam is such an interesting character, and he's such a cool character to watch because he's full of such light and dark. It's very, very human. None of us are brilliant, none of us are 100 percent good, none of us are 100 percent bad. And Adam is dealing with a lot. Like his dad is the headmaster of the school, that's a lot.


Butterfield: That's tough.


Gatwa: He's dealing with a lot with his sense of identity masculinity. And thus I think that's what's given him those rough edges. He's been searching for an affection in his life, and he and Eric met. It was quite a pretty, human moment between two people who were searching for some group kind of affection. And thus it will interesting to be able to see where that goes on to. However don't put up with people pushing you around. It's not sexy.


MTV News: Eric is a character that people really resonated with in Season 1. How come do you suggest that he connected so deeply with viewers of the show?


Gatwa: I feel like Eric regarding viewers from the show because he's quite a new character to our screens. We're telling more than a new stories nowadays, more than a few voices are being heard right now, which is staggering. And I feel like he represented strength in a way that hasn't been shown before, like strength in his masculinity, in a way that hasn't been seen before. And I think people identified with that. He symbolizes a lot of different intersections along with a lot of different marginalized people — seeing how he's so resilient and bounces back from the trials and tribulations that he's faced with.  I get more than a few pretty messages from people telling me that Eric has inspired them to be strong and be themselves. Plus it can be tricky where they are, where they're living at the moment, and so they can watch the show and find strength in that.


MTV News: Any time we spoke ahead of the premiere of Season 1, you both mentioned that you really enjoyed the sets on the show, particularly the Milburn home because there were so several phallic objects and easter eggs concealed on that set. Were there even more added to the Milburn residence in Season 2? 


Gatwa: There must be more penises added into Season 2. I think there was more peni?


Butterfield: There's certainly some heavily featured phallic objects. I remember they were doing a shot where they had the sun rising. They had this sun rig which casts an order kind of morning glow on this dick lamp, and it's sort of this big shadow on the wall. I remember, that was a fantastic shot. They took a while getting that.


Gatwa: many yoni as well. I do not actually know what the scientific term for...


Butterfield: Vagina.


Gatwa: some vaginas as well. There is a lot of vaginas.


Butterfield: It's not just penis shapes. Vagina paintings, vagina murals, ferns. Cutlery.


Gatwa: We don't discriminate.


MTV News: I love that. I mean, the show is sex-positive so it makes sense that the set could be as well. To speak to that, I think viewers really regarding how authentic the show  depicted sex and intimacy in a way that is quite refreshing. Is there something that makes laugh as soon as you visualize intimacy depicted on screen? Like how no one on screen is ever sweaty throughout sex. 


Gatwa: Things I noticed funny as soon as sex has been depicted before, is just, how come you look so brilliant all of the time? Why has your hair stayed the same while in this whole session? You're not sweating at all? There has been some form of physical exertion, and I don't visualize any form of that.


Butterfield: I appreciate once there's that awkwardness and the difficulty leading up to it. You don't just rip your clothes off. It's like, some days, you can't get your button undone. Some days the zipper gets stuck. And I appreciate whenever show is going to the little specifics like that and humanizes it.


MTV News: It shows how awkward sex can be.


Gatwa: There isn't a wind machine. Sex can be quite awkward, messy, fumbly at times. I feel like we show that.