'Sex Education' Star Emma Mackey Will Not Return For Season 5: 'Goodbye To Maeve'

"Sex Education" fans will have to say goodbye to another fan-favorite character soon.

Emma Mackey, who is best known for her role as the sardonic teenager Maeve in "Sex Education," has confirmed that she will not be returning to the Netflix coming-of-age series for the potential fifth season, Insider reported.

While speaking to the press during the 2023 BAFTAs at the Royal Festival Hall in London Sunday, the 27-year-old French-British actress was asked whether or not she will be back for "Sex Education" Season 5.

"Season 5 of 'Sex Education?' Bloody hell, I've just finished the fourth one, love — last week! No, I don't think so. I've said goodbye to Maeve. So, it's a happy goodbye," said Mackey after she won the Rising Star award at the BAFTAs for her roles in "Sex Education," "Eiffel," "Death on the Nile" and "Emily."

It seemed that Mackey earlier hinted at her departure during an interview with Total Film, which was published nearly a week before the British Academy Film Awards and in which she spoke about her Rising Star nomination, her future projects and her attachment to Maeve.

"It's just always tricky, it's different when you're playing a character that is sort of stuck in time. You know, we're playing 17-year-olds, and we're all almost 30, it is a bit weird," she said about her character. "

"It's a blessing because it is a launchpad and it is something that has given us opportunities in different ways," she continued. "But it's something that I want to gracefully exit from, and be happy that it exists and protect it and enjoy it in the time that it has existed in, but yeah, it needs to be left alone now I think."

Reflecting on "Sex Education," Mackey said that "we can all move on and take what we learned" from the show and that it was "wonderful to have had that education and to have that baptism of fire and to have just been flung into that whole world. I think it's made us stronger."

Mackey's departure announcement came nearly two weeks after her co-star, Ncuti Gatwa, who plays the beloved Eric Effiong, revealed via Instagram that Season 4 will be the last for his character.

"Last day. Last time. Bye bubs, thank you for all the lessons and for all the strength," Gatwa wrote on Instagram earlier this month, alongside a photo of his trailer door with the name "Eric" on it.

Insider suggested that the 30-year-old Rwandan-Scottish actor's departure may have been related to his upcoming role as the 15th Doctor in BBC's "Doctor Who."

But fans will still see Mackey's Maeve and Gatwa's Eric in "Sex Education" Season 4 when it premieres later this year. The official release date has yet to be announced.

Mackey and Gatwa are also set to appear in Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" alongside Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu. It is unclear who they will be playing in the highly anticipated comedy film.