Ncuti Gatwa Shares Why Filming Sex Education Wasn't Always A 'Joyous' Experience
Ncuti Gatwa has admitted he has mixed feelings about his time on Sex Education.
Later this year, the Bafta nominee will reprise his role as Eric Effiong in the hit Netflix teen drama, which it was recently announced will end after its fourth season.
However, during a new interview with Rolling Stone UK, Ncuti shared that making the show “wasn’t always joyous”.
“It was very hard; it was such a big show,” he explained. “When you’re telling stories that haven’t been seen before, there’s always a battle as to how to tell them. It wasn’t always joyous.
“I feel like we’ve outgrown it and we’ve given everything we can to it.”
He continued: “Being on [Sex Education] fast-tracked me into the downsides of this industry.
“I remember being told by an executive producer that white people wouldn’t understand my character, Eric, which incensed me. There’s an entire show there for white people to understand.”
Ncuti recently shared that he would often ad-lib comments from Eric that he felt would make the character more authentic, which would sometimes receive pushback.
“There were producers coming up to me like, ‘This ad-lib, I don’t feel like white people will understand it’,” the actor told British Vogue.
“And I was like, ‘It’s not for white people to understand. There are many white people in this show for white people to understand, but I want this other group of people to understand Eric. And that’s what you want too.’ And they got that. We were all constantly learning on that job.”
Ncuti also spoke to Rolling Stone UK about how the instant success of Sex Education changed his life.
“That was a very fast-moving train,” he recalled. “I’m still trying to get to grips with what happened then but… now the train has gone turbo this past year.
“Actors pick this job to hide behind our characters. And now suddenly you’re centre stage… you just have to focus on the job. The fame side can be distracting.”
With filming on Sex Education now complete, Ncuti is gearing up to take on the role of the Fifteenth Doctor in Doctor Who, following David Tennant’s brief return to the franchise.
He’s also one of the many Kens in Greta Gerwig’s new Barbie movie, alongside Simu Liu, John Cena and, of course, Ryan Gosling.
Read Ncuti Gatwa’s full interview in the latest issue of Rolling Stone UK, out now.