Ncuti Gatwa From ‘Sex Education’ On Eric Embracing His Nigerian Heritage & His Future With Adam

The long-awaited third season of Sex Education has arrived on Netflix, following a delayed release due to… you know, that thing that has affected all facets of our lives for the past two years.

The third season of the series is a joyous celebration of sexual liberation, as Moordale Secondary School students find themselves while wrestling over whether their relationships still serve them. This self-discovery comes from the teens being oppressed for most of the season with the school’s new headmistress, played by Girls star Jemima Kirke, imposing mandatory uniforms, enforcing archaic sexual health classes, and publicly shaming students for not complying to her new rules.

Spoiler warning: If you haven’t seen the entire season and plan to, it’s best you stop reading now. 

Everyone’s favourite queer icon Eric is one of the characters who experiences the most personal growth in Season 3. First introduced as Otis’ sidekick, in Season 3 Eric well and truly steps out of his best friend’s shadow.

Eric begins the season still dating bully-turned-boyfriend, Adam, after they got together at the end of Season 2, following Eric dumping French exchange student Rahim. While Eric has always been open with his sexuality and comfortable in who he is, Adam spends most of the season in a mode of flailing self-discovery — he’s not sure who he is, what drives him, or whether he’s ready to come out to his family.

This leaves the couple at odds with each other. When Eric gets some distance from Adam on a trip to Nigeria for his cousin’s wedding, he ends up cheating on Adam with the wedding photographer, Oba. Eric eventually tells Adam what happened, and while Adam can move past it, Eric ultimately ends their relationship as he says they’re going in different directions. Eric wants to live freely and be himself fully; Adam still has a long way to go.

We spoke to the actor who plays Eric, Sex Education’s breakout star Ncuti Gatwa, about what Eric learns about himself this season and what’s in store for him and Adam next.

Eric cheating on Adam in Nigeria followed growing tensions between the couple. Ncuti recognised that when Eric arrived in Nigeria — a country infamous for its anti-homosexuality laws — and realised his UK family never told their relatives that Eric was gay, this triggered something deep inside him.

“I think when he’s out there, he’s sees his family [in Nigeria], how they’ve been operating and the facade they put out to the world in order to be seen as more appealing or whatever. I think he decided that’s not for him, which makes him reflect on his relationship with Adam and the fact that [Eric] is not being entirely truthful about how happy he is in that relationship,” said Gatwa.

After the wedding, photographer Oba shows Eric an underground queer club in Lagos, opening Eric’s eyes to a whole different scene and sense of belonging. In contrast, Adam is still uncomfortable within the queer community, as he shut down Eric’s suggestion they go to a gay club together. The freedom Eric feels in Nigeria comes as a stark contrast to how he feels stifled by his relationship with Adam.

“I think he, perhaps, realises that Adam isn’t going to be able to understand him and walk with him through this very nuanced and complex journey in his life with him. I think he realises that it’s not Adam, and Nigeria highlights that,” he said. “He doesn’t want to lie anymore, he doesn’t want to put a facade out into the world. He met someone [Oba] who made him feel alive, who made him feel understood and seen. He was not seen by Adam.”

When it comes to Eric facing criticism for cheating on Adam, Gatwa is not phased.”I don’t care [laughs],” he told Punkee. “That’s part of his journey, which is moving towards being himself. What made him cheat in Nigeria is that he went out there and he realised that he sits of the centre of a lot of different intersections and in order for him to accept who he is fully, he needs to embrace his identity, his heritage, his culture, his sexuality, his religion — all these elements make Eric.”

While Eric is comfortable with his sexuality, Adam only recently came out at school, started his first same-sex relationship, and didn’t come out to his mum until Season 3’s final episode. “Where he is on his journey, Adam is not there yet — I mean, they’re at very different places, one is further along than the other in lots of different ways,” said Gatwa.

“Their relationship has been dictated by the pace of Adam’s growth and he [Eric] realises that ‘I need to be happy and for Adam to be happy as well, so we all need to be true to ourselves. I need to be true to myself for what I want.'”

Gatwa said that Season 3 marks a change in Eric from being a constant “people pleaser” in past seasons, to now only wanting to be make himself happy. “He’s constantly tried to be popular and tried to constantly just do what he thinks other people think he should be doing — he now just wants to be himself fully. He wants to embrace all parts of him, so when he goes out to Nigeria and meets Oba, he is someone who understands all aspects of him.”

When asked whether he could see Eric and Adam getting back together in the future, Gatwa still held out some hope. “Who knows whether that chapter is closed with them. They clearly have an undeniable connection with each other — Eric ran into his arms after six years of being bullied by him. So, who knows what’s in store for them?” he teased.

Ultimately, Gatwa believes Eric and Adam need time apart. “I think they both need to do some growing on their own. They’ve had quite a codependent relationship, I think they’ve kind of trauma-bonded in a way as well. They both have struggled with the expectations of masculinity and who they should be as young gay men, or in the case of Adam, he’s bisexual,” he said.

“I think they taught each other a lot. What brought them together was realising that they were a lot more similar than they are different. But they are undeniably at different places and come from very different backgrounds. Not to say that one’s home situation is better than the other, but they’re very different. They have different things driving their motives towards self-acceptance.”

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You can stream every episode of Sex Education on Netflix.