'Sex Education' Season 3: Everything We Know

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.

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.

Where did Sex Education season 2 leave off?

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.

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.

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.

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.