Marie Claire Marie Claire
  • Celebrity
  • Fashion
  • Beauty
  • Culture
  • Power
  • Nice Talk
  • Style At Large
  • More
    • Politics
    • Career & Money
    • Health & Fitness
    • Power Play
    • Travel
    • Promo Codes
    • Food & Cocktails
    • About Us
    • Subscribe
    • Sex & Love
  • Newsletter SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Marie Claire
    Marie Claire Newsletter

    Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!


    By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

    You are now subscribed

    Your newsletter sign-up was successful


    Want to add more newsletters?

    Marie Claire Daily

    Delivered daily

    Marie Claire Daily

    Get exclusive access to fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more.

    Marie Claire Self Checkout

    Sent weekly on Saturday

    Marie Claire Self Checkout

    Exclusive access to expert shopping and styling advice from Nikki Ogunnaike, Marie Claire's editor-in-chief.

    Maire Claire Face Forward

    Once a week

    Maire Claire Face Forward

    Insider tips and recommendations for skin, hair, makeup, nails and more from Hannah Baxter, Marie Claire's beauty director.

    Livingetc

    Once a week

    Livingetc

    Your shortcut to the now and the next in contemporary home decoration, from designing a fashion-forward kitchen to decoding color schemes, and the latest interiors trends.

    Homes & Gardens

    Delivered Daily

    Homes & Gardens

    The ultimate interior design resource from the world's leading experts - discover inspiring decorating ideas, color scheming know-how, garden inspiration and shopping expertise.


    An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
    Trending
    • Coco Gauff's New Balances
    • Dyson
    • Postpartum Texts
    • Ayan Broomfield
    • Everyday Handbags
    1. Culture
    2. TV shows

    'Sex Education' Season 3: Everything We Know

    School is back in session on September 17.

    Quinci LeGardye's avatar
    By Quinci LeGardye
    Published 7 September 2021 In News

    When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

    sex education
    (Image credit: Sam Taylor)
    • Facebook
    • X
    • Pinterest
    Share this article
    Join the conversation
    Follow us
    Add us as a preferred source on Google
    Subscribe to our newsletter

    Summer is drawing to a close, and it's time for a new year of wild adventures at Moordale Secondary. The Netflix hit Sex Education is returning this month to follow Otis (Asa Butterfield), Maeve (Emma Mackey), Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), and the gang at their final year of school. Season 3 of Sex Education will premiere on Netflix on September 17, 2021, kicking off with a time jump for our favorite characters.

    When will Sex Education season 3 come out?

    All eight episodes of the third season of Sex Education will hit Netflix on September 17. Though the show's production schedule was thrown off by the pandemic, the cast kept us updated on their official Instagram during lockdown. Filming began in the UK last September.

    Is there a Sex Education season 3 trailer?

    On July 19, Netflix dropped an "official advert," a fictional ad for Moordale. All of our faves (minus Eric) appear in the clip, praising their school alongside its new head teacher, Hope Haddon, played by Girls actress Jemima Kirke. Though the ad tries to sell Moordale as a dream school, there are hints of discord, with head boy Jackson (Kedar Williams-Stirling) reading from a script and Maeve looking uncomfortable the whole clip.

    Latest Videos FromMarie Claire
    Watch full video here:
    - YouTube  - YouTube
    Watch On

    The official trailer for the show, released September 7, shows the full scope of Head Teacher Haddon's redesign for the school. The students wear gray uniforms, walk in single-file lines, and receive abstinence-based sex education, with a teacher yelling, "Sex will ruin your life." It looks like it will fall to Otis and Maeve to bring the school back to its sex-positive, even though this are still tense with the show's will-they-won't-they couple.

    - YouTube  - YouTube
    Watch On

    Where did Sex Education season 2 leave off?

    Sex Education | Season 3 | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube Sex Education | Season 3 | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube
    Watch On

    The show ended with a ton of updates for the kids at Moordale. A chlamydia outbreak gave the school a big PR problem, and led to the ousting of head teacher Groff. Former bully Adam publicly confessed his love for Eric. Jean forgave Otis for being an illicit sex therapist, and then discovered she was pregnant by her ex Jakob. Maeve called social services on her drug-addicted mother. After breaking up with Ola and having a one-night stand with queen bee Ruby, Otis tried to confess his love to Maeve, only to be thwarted by Maeve's new friend Issac.

    You may like
    • a shirtless cole talks to jackie outside his bedroom door in a still from my life with the walter boys season 3 The Love Triangle in 'My Life with the Walter Boys' Is About to Be More Dramatic Than Ever
    • Benny (Benito Skinner) and Carmen (Wally Baram) in OVERCOMPENSATING. School Is Almost Back in Session At Yates: Here's What We Know About 'Overcompensating' Season 2
    • Alisha Boe, Josie Totah, Kristine Frøseth and Mia Threapleton in "The Buccaneers," now streaming on Apple TV+. Get Ready to Lace Up Your Corset Because 'The Buccaneers' Season 3 Is On the Way

    What will happen in Sex Education season 3?

    Season 3 will start with a time jump, skipping over the summer and beginning with the new school year. The students have been busy over the summer with Otis having casual sex and Eric starting a relationship with Adam. Maeve is hanging out with Issac, who still hasn't told her about deleting Otis' confession voicemail, and she and Otis have not kept in touch. And Jean is very, very pregnant, and still hasn't told Jakob.

    sex education season 3 aimee lou wood as aimee gibbs, emma mackey as maeve wiley in episode 1 of sex education season 3 cr sam taylornetflix © 2020

    (Image credit: Sam Taylor/Netflix)

    The kids are also arriving at a very different Moordale, where reporters posted outside the newly-nicknamed "sex school." There's a new head teacher, a high-achieving former student named Hope Haddon, who wants to restore the school to its former glory. Unfortunately, that means erasing every hint of sex, individuality, and fun at the school, with official photos showing the kids wearing new school uniforms.

    Marie Claire Newsletter

    Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!

    By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

    The cast and crew haven't spilled many details about the new season ahead of the premiere, but apparently filming was as effortless was earlier seasons despite the pandemic. Asa Butterfield told ELLE, “I think one of the reasons [the show has] done so well is because everyone just enjoys themselves. As actors, having the freedom to play with the words and experiment and be a bit goofy—these are the magic moments, which you wouldn't be able to write into a script. And I think that really elevates the show.”

    Who's in the cast of Sex Education season 3?

    All members of the wide-ranging cast are set to return for season 3, with the show keeping up its tradition of smoothly juggling multiple storylines. The season's major new addition is Girls actress Jemima Kirke as Hope Haddon, the new head teacher who turns out to be a bit authoritarian in her reign over the school.

    Recording artist Dua Saleh will also join the show as Cal, a nonbinary student who befriends Jackson, in her first credited television role. Other new additions include Harry Potter alum Jason Issacs as Mr. Groff's more successful older brother, and Resident Evil actress Indra Ové as Elsie's new foster mother.

    RELATED STORY

    how to apply netflix show

    (Image credit: Tom Dymond)

    Netflix Is Going All In on Its Reality Shows

    Explore More
    Education Netflix Streaming
    Quinci LeGardye
    Quinci LeGardye
    Social Links Navigation
    Culture Writer

    Quinci LeGardye is a Culture Writer at Marie Claire. She currently lives in her hometown of Los Angeles after periods living in NYC and Albuquerque, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology from The University of New Mexico. In 2021, she joined Marie Claire as a contributor, becoming a full-time writer for the brand in 2024. She contributes day-to-day-content covering television, movies, books, and pop culture in general. She has also written features, profiles, recaps, personal essays, and cultural criticism for outlets including Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, Vulture, The A.V. Club, Catapult, and others. When she isn't writing or checking Twitter way too often, you can find her watching the latest K-drama, or giving a concert performance in her car.

    Read more
    Benny (Benito Skinner) and Carmen (Wally Baram) in OVERCOMPENSATING.
    TV shows School Is Almost Back in Session At Yates: Here's What We Know About 'Overcompensating' Season 2 Benito Skinner has begun teasing the next installment of his collegiate comedy—including the wild cameos.
    By Quinci LeGardye
    Alisha Boe, Josie Totah, Kristine Frøseth and Mia Threapleton in "The Buccaneers," now streaming on Apple TV+.
    TV shows Get Ready to Lace Up Your Corset Because 'The Buccaneers' Season 3 Is On the Way The Apple TV hit is in production—and a former teen heartthrob is joining the cast.
    By Quinci LeGardye
     
     
    (l-r) John Tucker (Jalen Thomas Brooks), Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli), Hannah Wells (Ella Bright), Dean Di Laurentis (Stephen Thomas Kalyn) and John Logan (Antonio Cipriano) in OFF CAMPUS
    TV shows With 'Off Campus' Season 2 in the Works, We'll Be Back on the Briar U Campus Very Soon Here's everything we know—including which books from Elle Kennedy's series it's set to adapt.
    By Quinci LeGardye
    noah lalonde as cole walter leaning in to kiss nikki rodriguez as jackie howard against a barn in my life with the walter boys
    TV shows Don't Worry: There's More 'My Life With the Walter Boys' Coming After Those Cliffhangers Here's everything we know about season 4—which is already in production.
    By Radhika Menon
     
     
    Latest in TV shows
    A woman in a fur-lined coat (Lola Petticrew as Catherine) sits on a kid's playground slide as another woman (Emmy Rossum as Alice) stands next to her, in Hulu's 'Furious.'
    TV shows Emmy Rossum Says That Alice Will Be "On to the Next Mission" in 'Furious' Season 2
    Harry Jowsey wears a tuxedo shirt while speaking with a woman in a wedding veil, in a still from the 'Let's Marry Harry' finale.
    TV shows We No Longer Think Marriage Is a "Prize." Why Do Netflix Dating Shows?
     
     
    A group of friends (l-r Lucy Freyer as Billie, Owen Thiele as Anton, Amita Rao as Issa, Jack Innanen as Paul Baker, Malik Elassal as Samir) cuddle together on a living room couch, in the FX series 'Adults.'
    TV shows The 'Adults' Cast Is Just as Close as Their On-Screen Friend Group
    A group of women look shocked or excited while sitting at tables in the 'Love is Blind: UK: Season 3' lounge.
    TV shows Your Guide to the Hopeful Singles in the 'Love Is Blind: UK' Season 3 Cast
     
     
    Latest in News
    Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, has red hair and a short beard and wears a suit and tie and attends the Kyiv Security Forum, in Kyiv on April 23, 2026
    Royals Prince Harry "Used to Try and Escape" and "Disappear"
    Serena Williams wears a custom Nike jacket to play doubles with sister Venus Williams
    Celebrity Style Serena Williams's Custom Nike Jacket Pays Tribute to Her Incredible Career
     
     
    Prince Harry smiling in front of a step and repeat
    Royals Royal Fans Hope Prince Harry "Reunites With" One Relative
    Queen Camilla visits Speke Hall in Liverpool as Patron of the National Literacy Trust on September 04, 2026
    Royals Why Queen Camilla Says She's "A Little Creaky"
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Marie Claire
    RSS
    • About us
    • Contact Future's experts
    • Contact us
    • Advertise Online
    • Newsletter
    • Terms and conditions
    • Privacy policy
    • Cookies policy
    • Careers
    Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google

    Marie Claire is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

    © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.