Sex Education season 2 alternative ending revealed
Series director Ben Taylor has said that he filmed a separate ending for the popular Netflix show's second season **CONTAINS SPOILERS**
While the second season of Sex Education once again proved a huge hit for Netflix, many fans were left a little disappointed by the ending – with Otis and Maeve stopped from getting together due to the intervention of new character Isaac.
But according to Ben Taylor, who directed the series, the season could have ended in a very different way – with Taylor even going so far as to shoot an alternative ending.
Speaking to BT TV, he said, “I shot a thing just to see. Just to be naughty, because occasionally I can be.”
Allegedly the ending would have seen the two main characters both with a smile on their face, as if they had just seen each other – giving fans more hope than the eventual ending did.
"[The] shot you see in the finale is Otis and Maeve going off in different directions and it finishes on a single slow-mo tracking shot of each of them."
In the alternative ending, Taylor told actors Asa Butterfield (Otis) and Emma Mackey (Maeve): "Otis, act like you’ve just seen Maeve. Maeve, act like you’ve just seen Otis."
Many viewers took to social media to express their frustration at the final ending – and their anger at Isaac for deleting the emotional voicemail Otis had left on Maeve’s phone.
But Taylor says he believed that the ending written by Laurie Nunn was the correct one, even if it was inevitable that it would leave fans disappointed.
He said, “I think shoes will be thrown at screens. In a good way. I love being p**sed off at stuff. You think you want it, but you don't.
"I think about it all the time, because you want [the show] to be satisfying and nourishing and all the right things. They don't get it [in the ending[, but five minutes before on screen, Eric gets a moment with Adam which for me is one of the greatest romantic gestures.
“They get their moment. But if you go around and give everyone their moment it may get a bit sugary."
And apparently it wasn’t just the fans who were unhappy with the ending – with Asa Butterfield and Emma Mackey also upset their characters didn’t end up together.
"The people that were the most pissed off were Emma and Asa... they just really want the closure for their characters. But you’re not going to get that yet,” Taylor said.
Sex Education seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Netflix now
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
