The final season of Sex Education brings the students to a new school after the closure of Moordale.
Netflix have revealed the start date for Season 4 of Sex Education – it drops on 21st September 2023. However, in a move long suspected, they’ve also confirmed that the upcoming series is the show’s final run.
The new season will pick up from where we left off, with Maeve off to study in the US, while the rest deal with the closure of Moordale and having to continue their education at another school.
Here’s what we know about Sex Education Season 4:
Bittersweet as it always is to say goodbye, don’t be too sad, because English teens Otis (Asa Butterfield), Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), Maeve (Emma Mackey), Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood), Cal (Dua Saleh), Ruby (Mimi Keene), Jackson (Kedar Williams-Stirling), Viv (Chinenye Ezeudu) and the rest of the gang will get a proper send-off with most of them starting off Season 4 not at Moordale, but at the high-tech, progressive Cavendish Sixth Form College.
At their idyllic-seeming new school — there’s yoga on the lawn, a welcoming, queer-friendly atmosphere and plenty of sustainability efforts to satisfy any health and wellness nut — they meet the new popular crowd, the Coven (Anthony Lexa, Felix Mufti, Alexandra James). There’s even a rival sex therapist to Otis named O (Thaddea Graham) and a familiar face, Isaac (George Robinson), who’s studying art.
Plenty of the grownups are back to play too, with Gillian Anderson as Jean, as well as Alistair Petrie and Samantha Spiro as Adam’s parents, Michael and Maureen Groff.
There are other new faces for Season 4 too, including Dan Levy (Schitt’s Creek) as Thomas Molloy, Maeve’s America writing instructor, and Lisa McGrillis as Jean’s younger sister, Joanna.
A graduating cast
The conclusion of the series at this point hardly comes as a surprise. Firstly, Netflix are always looking for the next new thing, and secondly, the show’s young cast can only plausibly play over-amorous teenagers for so long.
Of course, we know that Ncuti Gatwa has a high-profile role coming up and he’s not the only one. Emma Mackey has a burgeoning film career, appearing in projects such as Eiffel and Death on the Nile, while Connor Swindells starred in Vigil and plays a lead role in SAS Rogue Heroes. Gatwa, Mackey and Swindells are also in the cast of the upcoming Barbie movie too.
Then there’s Aimee Lou Wood, who played against Bill Nighy in the acclaimed Living, as well as staring in Uncle Vanya and, most recently, as Sally Bowles in Cabaret on the West End stage.
Bittersweet
The show’s creator Laurie Nunn also posted a letter to the show’s Instagram feed to accompany the news. In it, she discusses why it feels like the right time to end the show and talks of her pride for what they have acheived.
Who’s not coming back for Sex Education Season 4?
Three cast members – Patricia Allison (Ola), Tanya Reynolds (Lily) and Simone Ashley (Olivia) have confirmed they won’t be returning for the final season. However, Rahkee Thakrar, who plays teacher Emily Sands, who previously ruled herself out, now appears to be returning for one episode of the new run alongside Jim Howick (Colin) – according to Digital Spy.
If you want more information, including further comments and reflections on the show from Laurie Nunn, Netflix’s TUDUM have posted an explainer.