Asa Butterfield on Playing “Sex Wizard” Otis on “Sex Education” and What He Hopes Young People Learn From the Hilariously Heartwarming Netflix Series

It feels like we know Asa Butterfield. We've seen him in some of the biggest book adaptations over the years, from the extraordinary adventures in Hugo to the enchanting antics of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. But in Netflix's new dramedy, Sex Education, we see a whole new side of Asa. This time around, the actor plays a bumbling teen named Otis. And while he might not be the most popular kid at Moordale Secondary, soon the entire student body is thirsty for his brain once it's revealed he has a penchant for solving people's sexual dilemmas thanks to years living under the roof of sex therapist parents.

Now 21-years-old, the Londoner started acting when he was quite young but always prioritized his home life and having a regular childhood. He's delightfully charming on Netflix's Sex Education as Otis, approaching each of his classmates' sex quandaries with genuine compassion. He might have never have had sex before, but he's able to do everything from counsel couples' miscommunications in the bedroom to help solve whoever's spreading someone's private photos around school. And things start to get complicated as his feelings for the sex clinic mastermind, Maeve (Emma Mackey), begin to blossom.

The high school virgin is a tired trope and Asa knows that, but thankfully, Sex Education explores exactly what it's like to be a young person seeking stimulating self-pleasure or feeling betrayed by your body with brilliant wit and comedy. Asa stopped by Teen Vogue to talk about subverting that trope, filming the show's several wanking scenes, getting to play Gillian Anderson's son, and more.

Teen Vogue: How did you get prepared for the show?

Asa Butterfield: I didn't read books like “how to teach sex” books, really. There were a few cases in the show that covered topics which I didn't know much about. In that case, I would read up on it. We wanted to make the information I was giving to be accurate. I didn't want to give anything false. So there is that aspect of the research, but really I think most of what I had to learn just came through experiencing myself and speaking with Gillian, speaking with my mom, who's also a therapist [in real life]. That was how I got into the therapist role, [realizing] how sensitive it is and how much responsibility you really have because. Especially when you're talking about sex, it's such a personal subject. So just appreciating that and appreciating what that means. [Otis] is aware of the sensitivity of it. And there's a conversation he has with his mom in the second episode and he's like what makes a good therapist, and she says it's about understanding the weight of that responsibility and not inserting your own opinions and just being there to help them talk through it, help them understand it.

TV: You’ve been in so many big movies throughout your career. What was it like being able to embrace Otis and play him for an entire season of television?

AB: I think for me, ‘cause I think I'm generally known to be a more dramatic actor, so to do a comedy, to play a character who has the ability to be very funny even when he's not trying to be, it's just his sort of bumbling nature, but also have a sort of sincerity to him and intelligence and maturity, I think it was a really interesting way of playing this character. This high school virgin is a trope that we see a lot of, but Otis kind of subverts that because he's this sex wizard at the same time. So it's just a funny dynamic. I read it, and I was like, "That's interesting." And I knew it'd be a lot of fun to play, 'cause I enjoy playing those sort of awkward moments, I think I'm quite good at doing that. It's his honesty, he doesn't sort of say jokes or do gags, it's just the situations he's in and the way he reacts to them is funny because he's sort of like often very panic-stricken.

TV: And this show has plenty of moments that might be awkward to film, whether it’s waking up from a wet dream or an oral sex demonstration using a banana. What was it like filming those more outrageous moments?

AB: They just made the atmosphere on set very easy, very comfortable. At times it felt awkward, but never uncomfortably so. Only the awkwardness that would be believable in the moment for the character. [A topic like sex] is relatable as well. [These are] things kids are going through and things they're doing. Everyone's kind of been there, older or younger, you can all relate to it. We all knew what show was trying to do, which is kind of show that in a very honest and a very frank way. I think everyone appreciated that, and it was like, "Alright." And there wasn't any judgment.

It made it fun, often times, quite exciting. I remember my wank scenes, I've got a few of them, they were on a schedule and they were getting pushed back until I had I think all three of them were in the about the last few weeks of shooting. Yeah, I remember that, I was so excited, I was like, "Yes! It's time to have my wanksies." I was thrilled. And had you asked me that before I'd done this show, I'd have been like, "Oh, that would be really scary." Then I was like, "Yeah, let's do it! Another take?"

TV: What was it like working with Gillian Anderson as your on-screen parent, a super overbearing mother? Were you a big fan before?

AB: I'd seen her in bits of the X-Files. But I'd never seen her in a role like this, had never worked with her before. I didn't really know what to expect. And yeah, similarly to everyone else, we didn't have any rehearsal time really, and we had a few weeks to just do all our scenes together. So it was very intense. But really quickly, we kind of just had this very comfortable, very relatable kind of mother-son dynamic. She is hilarious. One of the first scenes we had was her and Adam smoking a joint. In this scene, I'm supposed to be really like fed up and I'm not enjoying this at all. But I could not stop giggling, and especially when the camera wasn't on me, I was watching them with a huge grin on my face. And they'd turn to me and I had to be like, "Arg, I'm cross." But I could not stop smiling really.

TV: The colors and fashion in the show are great, and Otis’s jacket, in particular, is so dope. What’s the story behind it?

AB: It was vintage. What's the... is it Wrangler? It might be Wrangler. It's an old one. I remember, I'd wear it, and then every time if I wasn't working or if I was eating lunch, they're like, "No, no, no, no! Just go take the jacket in." There’s one of them, they didn't want anything to happen to that jacket. I tried on a lot of jackets before we settled on the jacket, 'cause it is kind of becomes a part of his character a little bit. And yeah, the costumes, and the setting, and the colors and the school, it's all got this quite kind of John Hughes-ey, a bit '80's, not really sure where it is, and with the music as well, it all kind of leads into this slightly timeless setting.

When you first see the house that I live in, it's a beautiful red Swedish house, you're like, "Okay." Then everything else clicks into place 'cause if he's living in a house like this, everything else makes sense. It's all kind of like hyper-real, and compared with a lot of British comedies, especially British kind of teen comedies, which is often very gray or depressing. We're kind of like self-deprecating, and we wanted to veer away from that and bring it almost a more Americanized kind of funkier atmosphere, but with British humor, which I think worked really well.

TV: Why is it so important that sex education is really honest about sex and what young people are up to and what they're curious about?

AB: I don't think there are any shows, which are really as honest and kind of unflinching about what sex is really like as the teenager. And it shows it in all its ugliness and awkwardness, and its funniness and it shows these characters who are going through their own things and are confused and don't really know what their bodies are doing and don't really know what they want. And these are all things that teenagers are experiencing, and it doesn't try and turn that and make it sexy, or try and make it kind of cool. It just really shows it for what it is. And sometimes it is sexy, most of the time it's not. And I think that's just something that'd be really relatable for people our age.

Related: Meet the Cast of "Sex Education," Netflix's Hilarious New Show All About, Well, Sex

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