The new queer characters in Sex Education season 4
Season 4 is the final season of Sex Education. It’s been out for a handful of days now and we’re happy to report we binged and devoured the entire thing in one sitting. We’d heard the rumors that this season was going to take on a particular queer edge and wowsers, the rumors weren’t kidding! Despite the fact that it’s the last season, there are a whole bunch of new characters this season. There are enough new queer characters that it warrants a closer look at these dynamic individuals who help drive the narrative forward in season 4 of Sex Education.
Over the years, the show has been praised for its representation of teenage sexuality, and especially for the way in which it deals with queer issues. Season 4 ramps up the queerness to a whole new level though, and we’re here for every single part of it.
Season 4 of Sex Education has high-quality trans representation, it touches on the idea of healthy polyamorous situations, slides in a dynamic asexual character, and explores the extremely tense relationship between queerness and religion, just to name a few.
So who are the new queer characters of Sex Education season 4, and what is it about these folks that has audiences buzzing with glee? Come with us as we introduce these dynamic new characters.
Abbi
Abbi (Anthony Lexa) is one of the kids who befriends Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) when he arrives at the new school, Cavendish College. Abbi is hyper-focused on kindness and doesn’t like it when her friends, or others, spread rumors and say nasty things about others. She carries a gossip jar around with her and forces her friends to make deposits into the jar each time they engage in idle gossip about their classmates, very much like the premise of a swear jar.
She isn’t perfect though and she has lessons to learn as well, despite the fact that her intentions are inherently coming from a good place.
Abbi is trans and was rejected by her family upon coming out. She lives with Roman (Felix Mufti), her trans-masculine boyfriend, and his family. Although they have their own journey to travel in this season, Abbi and Roman are a Cavendish College institution, and quite literally the entire student body gets behind them and does their part to ensure they are a romantic success!
Roman
Roman is a new queer character in season 4 and is an integral member of the new family for the purposes of demonstrating the vast inequalities when it comes to trans health issues and the impacts that these inequalities have on the trans community overall. Roman comes from an affluent family who was able to afford private healthcare for his gender-affirming care. Roman paid for top surgery, rather than waiting for the public system to come through for him.
In a conversation with Cal (Dua Saleh), Roman shares that top surgery was the best thing that has ever happened to him, and it changed the way he feels about himself and his body. Roman’s mental health is in a much better place than Cal’s as a result, and Roman is doing better in life because he was able to access the right kind of healthcare.
Roman loves Abbi desperately, but the couple must work through some issues in their sex life this season before harmony is restored between them. Our favorite thing about the Roman and Abbi coupling is that everyone in the school just adores them so much, and at Cavendish, instead of the trans folks being the outsiders of the student body, they are literally the center and the glue that holds everyone together.
Roman is an excellent depiction of just how happy trans people can be when they are afforded the same rights and respect as the rest of society.
Sarah “O” Owens
It took us a hot minute to work out what was going on with this character, but when the shoe dropped, we had a huge “ahuh” moment. O (Thaddea Graham) is Cavendish College’s resident student sex therapist. Essentially, she is the Otis (Asa Butterfield) of Cavendish and is orchestrated as Otis’ rival from the onset of the season.
Liked by many, seemingly well-versed in her craft, and seems to have it more together than Otis does. O and Otis are definitely well-matched adversaries. However, O is harboring quite a secret from the student body that definitely might change the way her sex advice is received by her peers.
In a very Otis move, the boy essentially forces O to confess to the entire student body that she is asexual. Jaws dropped around the globe for a few seconds, but as soon as the brain cogs started working again, everything about her suddenly made sense.
Asexual advocate Yasmin Benoit took to the X app soon after Season 4 release and dropped the news that she had been working with the Sex Education team on creating an asexual character that was authentic and as real as possible.
With the asexual community being among the most misunderstood members of the LGBTQ community, it was nice to see Sex Education making a concerted effort to include this representation.
Aisha
Aisha (Alexandra James) is one of the most vivacious and round new queer characters in season 4. She’s deaf, and at first, she seems to be at peace with her disability, however, as the season ambles on, it becomes clearer that Aisha has some very strong feelings about how she fits into society.
She advocates for herself often and makes it clear to people around her that the only way she will be able to communicate is if they intentionally look at her when speaking to her so that she can read their lips. Although she can, she doesn’t use sign language because of the shame she felt when doing so in the past.
When another disabled student at Cavendish stages a protest about disability access within the school, Aisha snaps a little and tells her friends how she really feels. Because they are good people, they amend their behavior immediately and begin learning sign language for her.
Aisha is also queer and in a polyamorous relationship with her significant other. We don’t see very much of their partner though, and Aisha takes an interest in Cal. Aisha is open with Cal about expectations and her situation and it’s all rather healthy and adult, actually. So bravo, Sex Education, for getting this one right!
Thomas Malloy
Not a leading character among the new queer characters in season 4 of Sex Education, Thomas Malloy (Dan Levy) joins the cast as Maeve’s (Emma Mackey) writing teacher in her American writing program. He is gay and quite a savage when it comes to delivering feedback to his students. He doesn’t think too much of Maeve’s work initially and says many things to her that punch giant holes in her self-confidence.
Despite his harsh demeanor, the man is quite popular amongst the students as they all frolic around him attempting to gain his approval. He makes just a few appearances here and there, but his impact on Maeve is huge, and the fact that he’s played by Dan Levy (queer Hollywood royalty, thank you very much) means that we just couldn’t leave him off.
Sex Education season 4 is out now and available to stream on Netflix globally. It’s the last season of the wildly popular show and we wish we’d gotten to know many of these new queer characters much earlier in the show. They breathe a new life into the narrative of this universe that we’re a little sad we’re now going to have to live without.
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Featured Image: Courtesy of Netflix
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