Whew! It’s been a year and a half since Netflix premiered the phenomenal sophomore season of its breakout high school dramedy Sex Education. Due to COVID-19 production delays, we’ve had to wait a little longer for our first taste of the third season than we would have liked.
But on Thursday, Netflix finally dropped a first look at the forthcoming season, and the kids are in… uniforms?
Set to premiere with eight brand new episodes on September 17, the third season of Sex Education will find us returning to Moordale Secondary School to catch up with all our favorite horny, sex-obsessed, queer-accepting characters, who are apparently now required to adhere to a strict dress code.
According to a plot synopsis, season three takes place during a momentous new school year. Main character Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield), who memorably had trouble even masturbating in the first season, has now graduated to having casual sex, while his mom, the sex-positive therapist Jean Milburn (Gillian Anderson, who still deserves an Emmy nomination for her performance), is pregnant and expecting a second child, despite being perimenopausal.
And then there’s a plotline that’s especially near to our queer hearts: Otis’ best friend and chief confidante, the fan favorite style icon Eric Effiong (Ncuti Gatwa), is now in an official relationship with his formerly closeted bully Adam Groff (Connor Swindells) after spending season two dating handsome French student Rahim.
Popular girl Aimee Gibbs (Aimee Lou Wood), who spent last season reeling in the aftermath of a sexual assault incident, “discovers feminism,” according to the synopsis. Meanwhile, champion swimmer-cum-star actor Jackson Marchetti (Kedar Williams-Stirling) finally gets over his ex-girlfriend Maeve when he develops a new crush.
According to Netflix, viewers should “prepare for commitment animals, alien phenomena, vulva cupcakes, and more of Madam Groff.”
As previously announced, Sudanese-American singer Dua Saleh is joining the cast as Cal, the show’s first nonbinary character. Other newcomers include Jemima Kirke as Hope, Moordale’s new headteacher who wants to return the school to the “pillar of excellence” it once was; Harry Potter’s Jason Isaacs as Peter Groff, described in the synopsis as “Mr. Groff’s more successful and not very modest brother”; and Resident Evil’s Indra Ové as Anna, the foster mom to Elsie.
As part of the season three tease, Netflix has also shared several first-look photos from the set. Although the pictures don’t offer much in the way of plot reveals, at least one new thing can be gleaned from them: the prevalent presence of the aforementioned uniforms.
In the first two seasons of Sex Education, Moordale students were free to dress how they pleased and often used their clothing as forms of self-expression. (It’s partially what allowed the flamboyant, color-obsessed Eric to ascend the ranks as the show’s de facto fashionisto.)
However, in these new photos, the Moordale students are all dressed… well, uniformly in heather gray blazers emblazoned with the Moordale insignia. Knowing that Jemima Kirke’s new headteacher wants to restore Moordale to its former glory, it’s not hard to imagine that these uniforms have been mandated as a means of whipping the students into shape.
Whether or not this proves to be true won’t be confirmed until season three of Sex Education premieres on Netflix later this fall. Either way, we will be anxiously tuning in to catch up with our favorite British teens.
In the meantime, I will be locked in my room, rewatching seasons one and two in preparation. Let’s go, Moordale!
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