This Quote About Emma Mackey Not Returning After Season 3 Of Sex Education Makes A Sad Point
“I can’t be 17 my whole life.”
Maeve may not be on Netflix’s hit Sex Education for much longer, y’all. Season 3 of the Netflix drama just debuted on Friday, Sept. 17, but there’s already some sad news about the show's future. As you’re celebrating your marathon sesh for the latest season, Emma Mackey’s quote about possibly leaving Sex Education will make you so sad.
Mackey opened up about playing the angsty bad girl in an interview with Hunger on Sept. 16, calling the role “a gift.” However, it wasn’t long into the talk that Mackey revealed she might not stay on the show as long as viewers would hope. “It’s a complicated thing to me. Sex Education is so momentous as a concept, as a show, and the cast is phenomenal,” she said. “I genuinely care about them all a lot, and I made lifelong friends. We’ve kind of grown up together. But the bittersweet nature of it is that I also can’t be 17 my whole life,” Mackey admits, revealing her age may make it impossible to keep playing Maeve.
Although the actor hasn’t admitted when she may be leaving the classroom dramedy, she did reveal just how important Maeve’s complicated, multi-layered character is to play her. “I think there’s something very powerful about her, and I’m only sort of realizing now, with a little bit of a distance, how much of an impact she has had on people,” Mackey said.
As Season 3 of the show sees Maeve hanging out with Isaac (played by George Robinson), she and Otis (Asa Butterfield) still aren’t speaking.
Outside of the dramatic high school escapades in the latest season, Mackey herself is seeking out other avenues and flexing her acting chops in new projects. She’s already starred in the Irish thriller The Winter Lake. She will also appear in upcoming projects such as the Agatha Christie feature Death on the Nile and a film called Emily as Victorian novelist Emily Brontë.
Mackey is also keeping her eye on another prize — becoming a filmmaker. "I'm very attracted and seduced by the idea of writing a film and conceiving something, being there at the conception of a story, working at it, seeing it through, and then choosing a team,” the actor muses. Although it sounds like one of her passions, she adds that she isn’t “quite ready for it.”
It’s looking like Mackey might not sign on for Season 4 of Sex Education should Netflix renew it for another run, but she hasn’t revealed anything more than a hint about her future on the series.
To catch up on all the latest drama, you can stream the eight-episode run of Season 3 of Sex Education on Netflix as of Sept. 17.
