‘Sex Education’ Star Leaving Series After Season 4

The hit Netflix series Sex Education has turned into a launch pad for young British actors, who are now moving on to bigger and brighter projects. Emma Mackey, who plays Maeve Wiley, is the latest to confirm she is leaving. The upcoming fourth season will be her last.

“Season 5? I’ve just finished the fourth one last week,” Mackey jokingly told Radio Times when asked about her future on the show. “No, I don’t think I’ll be in season 5. I’ve said goodbye to Maeve.”

This is not a complete surprise, as she previously said she would have fewer scenes in Season 4. “It feels very familiar! And it’s a bit more sporadic because we have more characters. So there’s… I’m not in it as consistently,” she told Radio Times in October 2022. She was “excited” to return to filming at the time, adding, “I’m intrigued to know what’s going to happen – because I also don’t know. I’m also finding out as we go along, so it’ll be fun!”

Mackey, 27, was at the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, to receive the BAFTA Rising Star Award. Outside of Sex Education, she starred in Death on the Nile and the Emily Bronte biopic Emily last year. She also has a role in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Barbie movie.

Maeve’s Season 4 storyline will involve her meeting a new character played by Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy. He will play famous author Thomas Molloy, who agrees to tutor Maeve at her Ivy League college. Marie Reuther, Felix Mufti, Anthony Lexa, Alexandra James, and Imani Yahshua are also joining the cast. Asa Butterfield, Ncuti Gatwa, Chinenye Ezeudu, Kedar Williams-Stirling, Dua Saleh, Aimee-Lou Wood, Connor Swindells, and Gillian Anderson returned for Season 4.

Simone Ashley, Tanya Reynolds, Patricia Allison, and Rahkee Thakrar have all confirmed they are not involved in Season 4. Gatwa will be in the new episodes, but he just said goodbye to his character Eric. The actor was cast as the new lead in Doctor Who, replacing Jodie Whittaker.

Netflix still has not set a premiere date for Sex Education Season 4. The show was created by Laurie Nunn and centers on Otis Mulburn (Butterfield), an awkward student who teams up with Maeve to run a sex therapy clinic at his school, using the knowledge he gained from his mother, sex therapist Jean (Anderson). The show won the Comedy Series award at the 2022 International Emmy Awards.