Laurie Nunn, creator of sex education. “Teenagers are full of hormones and make mistakes all the time, but so are parents.”

That’s it, that’s it. Season 4 Sexual education will be the last. Otis, Maeve, Amy, Eric and their friends will be leaving high school and soon heading for other horizons with their diplomas in hand (or not) and a solid background in sex and love education. Since 2019, we’ve been passionately following the heartaches, existential questions, failures, and outbursts of these characters on Netflix. The strength of the British series is there. directly addressing topics such as vaginismus, sexual assault, bisexuality, or revenge porn in the frame and obvious lightheartedness. teen drama. A whole world that imagines show host Lori Nunn, who, with the help of mentors and her young actors, was able to combine her desire for a more inclusive series with her love of soap operas.

In this final season, which premiered September 21 on Netflix, a change of scenery. most of the characters Sexual education they enter a new high school (except for Maeve, played by Emma Mackie, who studies in the United States, and some characters like Olivia, Lily or Ola, who have disappeared). The Cavendish is a pastel-hued progressive paradise where you slide into a mental health conference or meditation retreat. safe place where the queer identity intends to live as peacefully as possible. Except when Otis, a trainee sexologist, finds himself in competition, his best friend Eric makes new connections and moves away from him, and no one is safe from being. has been cancelled in case of a wrong move. In its final season, Sexual education continues to explore complex sexual issues and the pain of adolescence. With gentle melancholy, more striking than before. his heroes and heroines go through adulthood mourning, breaking up, or making big decisions. Meet Lori Nunn, who led a small revolution for four seasons.

For a nice finish

Madame Figaro: Why did you decide to end it? Sexual education ?
Lori Nunn: When we entered writer’s room For this fourth season, I did not know that it would be the last, it was not my intention. But as the writing process continued, it became clear that each character’s stories found their conclusion in a very natural way. It seemed like a good time to end the series while people love it and want more than a draw line.

Big news this season is Cavendish High School, a truly progressive island where the characters return to school…
This idea came about because at the end of Season 3, Moordale High School was closed, so we knew the students had to end up in a new campus. It was a lot of fun working on this, we had a kind of blank pattern to create a whole new environment. Moordale was a place way ahead of its time; if you suddenly place students in a context that is even ahead of its time, they feel left behind. This creates an interesting tension.

Cavendish almost represents a fantasy safe place whose ranks also show limits: his students are sometimes, in the eyes of newcomers, annoyingly exemplary;. Why did you want to express this idea?
I think the Season 4 writers and I consider ourselves left-wing, very progressive. We thought it would be interesting to run the demo through a mirror to do our own research. It is always important to be open, to continue learning. We must always keep in mind that we are not perfect and constantly question ourselves. This is exactly what happens at Cavendish. there we strive to be inclusive so that everyone feels safe. But sometimes things go wrong, we make mistakes. That’s what I like about the students at this new university. they are open to criticism, listen to it, don’t react defensively and find a way forward. This is indeed a welcome thing.

Dialogues of generations

New trans characters are especially highlighted. This is something you already stated you wanted to do. For what ? How did you work with the actors?
In Season 3, we introduced the character of Kali (Dua Saleh), who is transgender. It opened my eyes. I learned so much that we wanted to develop her story in Season 4. But I felt it was important that this character not carry the whole trans experience on her shoulders. We wanted to make sure we brought in other performances. We work very closely with our authors, but also with various consultants, as well as the actors themselves and the intimacy coordinators. Trying to tell the most authentic and nuanced version of the story is a truly collaborative experience. Trans people are often left out of conversations where we ask what exactly it feels like to be trans. We wanted to make sure we gave them a central place in the series.

We are debating that in France “sensitive readers” These “sensitive readers» that some authors consult to make sure they don’t make any comments that might offend the reader. Some talk about progress, some cry about censorship. What is your view?
It’s too big a topic to talk about in a few minutes, but personally, I wouldn’t want to tell a story that I haven’t lived without knowing as much as possible how the people who have experienced it feel. It makes my writing better, deeper, and improves my understanding of the situation. So I don’t see how that would be a bad thing.

Has it ever limited you?
Not at all. It gives me more freedom, I think, because when you have more information, you have more material to write about, as opposed to creating from scratch.

Parents and children

You bring an interesting dimension to the character of Otis’s mother, Jean, played by Gillian Anderson. until now he was a noble fifty-year-old, brilliant sexologist who was very much in control of himself. Here she has an eight-week-old baby, completely overwhelmed…
Jean gives birth at the end of Season 3. We wanted the rest of her story to be believable, especially in these first few months as we welcome a baby. It can be a joyful experience, but also a very complex, intense, tension-filled one. Jean is a character who finds great strength in her ambition, being an independent woman, having a career, and being accomplished in her profession. What’s really controversial about Season 4 is that she has to juggle all of this with motherhood. As feminists, we would like to think that this is no longer a problem, that the issue is resolved, but it is not. I had my first child last year, right before filming started. Balancing my work and my new responsibilities as a mother, I can say that it was really hard.

During a job interview, where Jean goes with her eight-week-old baby, she can’t help but express her anxiety at the thought of leaving her behind to go back to work…
Jean is an open book, she has a hard time keeping herself from expressing herself, and this is often what causes her problems. Therefore, this reaction seemed completely natural. And this is something we need to talk about more. Some people in England can get good maternity leave. But we must also focus on paternity leave and the support that must be given to women, parents and families during this time when there is a lot to take in.

Sexual education is a series intended for teenagers, where parents have their own stories… Why did you want to give them such an important place?
I never wanted to write a “teenage show” where the parents are just antagonists, obstacles, as is often the case in this kind of story. I like the idea that we’re all still 16 somewhere, and we haven’t changed that much since then. I’m 37 years old, but sometimes I feel like a teenager. This is definitely something I wanted to address Sexual education. Teenagers are chaotic, full of hormones, and constantly making mistakes. But parents are the same. This is what being human is all about. we learn, grow, change every day.

A phenomenon

Sexual education was a real phenomenon that helped change views on many sexual and romantic issues. Do you remember the moment you realized that?
Oh no! I spend so much time at home, writing in my pajamas, that I always feel a kind of shock when I talk to people who have seen the program. It’s incredibly exciting when someone tells you that it helped them feel represented. For example, after season 1 and Lily’s character with vaginismus, I got a lot of messages from people saying that they realized what their problem was, that they went to the doctor. It was just a part of the female experience that we didn’t see very often. By telling this story, people were able to get help, and that was great.

Last question, why are all the characters coming in? Sexual education Do they have amazing patterned wallpaper at home?
That’s because we have great decorators. And you are right. they are beautiful i want them all