ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You established Otis' crush on Maeve pretty instantly in the series.
Were Otis and Maeve always going to be a will-they-won’t-they for the show?
But at the same time there is just something so lovely about a good will-they-won’t-they.
Asa Butterfield and Emma Mackey on ‘Sex Education’.Sam Taylor/NETFLIX
I really wanted to have that and pay homage to that at the core of the show.
Did you ever consider having them kiss sooner?
What has the journey of crafting that been like for you?
Emma Mackey and Asa Butterfield on ‘Sex Education’.Netflix
So I sort of knew that in series one and series two, it didn’t feel quite right.
We had an almost-kiss in series one.
And then in series two, they were both going such different directions.
So we knew that it was time and they had to make physical contact.
I’m always so impressed when a show can truly draw it out.
And like you said, I think it allows the show more time to develop them as individuals first.
And I mean, obviously the classic is Ross and Rachel.
And I think that they, did they get together in season 2?
But it’s a hard thing to pull off.
They draw it out on the back end.
Yeah, you still want them to get together.
It’s quite magic.
Did you feel any sense of pressure from a growing fandom that wanted these two to get together?
I have a go at block out as much of the noise as possible.
I’ve usually started writing the new series long before the previous one comes out.
But we’ve now got lots of Rotis shippers as well.
Lots of people are really wanting Otis and Ruby [Mimi Keene] to be endgame.
So it’s all changed.
You touched on this a little bit, but why now?
Why was season 3 the right moment for that first kiss?
There were a few things.
Often when I’m writing, stuff just appears quite organically.
The story starts to kind of tell you where it wants to go.
And there was something about the image of them being stuck together, abandoned together on this school trip.
I loved the visual element of that.
I liked the idea that we would also have this very romantic kiss in the same episode.
And the two things feel like they just shouldn’t go together.
Also I think that in series three, we go to some dark emotional places.
The characters are all of growing up and maturing.
I wanted that in the mix as well.
I was so bummed about it.
I can’t even remember that they did kiss.
But I was so invested in that.
I loveThe West Wing, but that was one of the main reasons I watchedThe West Wing.
And I think I do remember it was maybe a bit anti-climactic.
It’s playing with those rom-com tropes.
There’s always something quite visual with the two people being brought together.
And I also really enjoy a good heightened bit of dialogue.When Harry Met Sallyis one of my favorites.
Our director, Ben Taylor, absolutely loves teen films and particularly a lot of 1980s teen films.
He really wanted to make it feel like that could be the image that would be on the poster.
I was so glad that the voicemail finally came out.
But I also really love Isaac as a character.
In terms of actually seeing the kiss, were you on set?
What was your experience with seeing it for the first time?
I wasn’t on set it.
We were working with a lot of skeleton crews and it was just a very different filming experience.
It was a great moment.
And Asa and Emma just act beautifully in that scene.
I really enjoyed watching it.
Was the gas station element scripted?
It was always written in that it was going to be at a gas station.
Because Otis is always in panic mode, he always thinks he’s going to die.
And then it really was our incredible production designer that brought it all together.
Now we just have to see where they’re going to head next.
That’s the pressure, right?
