Ncuti Gatwa, who plays Eric Effiong in Netflix’s Sex Education, has opened about his character’s trajectory in season three.
The new season, which began streaming on Netflix on September 17th, 2021, has shown Gatwa’s character undergo more progress and development in its arc with every passing episode. However, Eric’s decision to start dating Adam, whose internalised homophobia had shown him bullying and assaulting Eric in the past, has garnered criticism from fans.
Eric is actually a well-rounded and well-liked character. To see fans questioning his decision shows how protective they are of the character.
Ncuti recently spoke up about the entire situation. He told E!News that he had to work hard to get into the “mental space” of Effiong since the character was younger to him by a decade. It was only then that he allowed himself the liberty to judge the character’s decisions.
He spoke about how “16-year-olds don’t make the best decisions for themselves,” and how “queer youth don’t have a blueprint for life.”
“It’s a relationship of two people that really care about each other and have a connection with each other,” he explained.
He added, “But it hasn’t come from the healthiest beginnings, it has been a toxic relationship up until this point, and throughout season two as well.”
He calls the relationship “bittersweet” and then says that the couple never gets “the happy moment” as they are constantly caught in an inner turmoil and are “constantly still trying to figure out themselves, and trying to figure out how to be themselves with each other.”
He attributes his character to having helped facilitate Adam’s inner growth. Gatwa added, “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.”
Watch the trailer for the show below:
