[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Season 3 of Sweet Tooth.]

The Big Picture

‘Sweet Tooth’ Season 3 wraps up Gus’s journey, as he faces new dangers in Alaska, highlighting the importance of his pure heart.
Co-Stars Christian Convery and Nonso Anozie discuss character growth, genuine friendship, and favorite moments from filming the final season.
Convery recalls keeping antlers and the mold made to create them, while Anozie treasures his Big Man jacket and clapperboard.

From showrunner Jim Mickle and based on the DC comic books, the Netflix series Sweet Tooth wraps up its story with its third season, as it continues to follow Gus (Christian Convery) on his journey from timid deer boy to a more confident Stagg, with Jepperd (Nonso Anozie), Becky (Stefania LaVie Owen) and Wendy (Naledi Murray) by his side. Their search for both Gus’s mother and the mysterious origins of the deadly Sick lead them to Alaska, as they face new and ever dangerous threats, every step of the way. And every time things seem impossible, it’s Gus’s pure heart that holds everything together.

Co-stars Convery and Anozie spoke to Collider about the final season of this magical fantasy series about the importance of finding family when you don’t have one of your own. During this interview, they discussed the growth of their characters, the genuine friendship they developed while making the series, whether Jepp is worthy of redemption, their favorite Season 3 moment together, having the ending come full circle with the first episode, and what they took home from the set.

Sweet Tooth
A boy who is half human and half deer survives in a post-apocalyptic world with other hybrids.Release Date June 4, 2022 Seasons 3 Studio Netflix

‘Sweet Tooth’ Co-Stars Christian Convery & Nonso Anozie Were Friends On-Screen and Off-Screen
Image via Netflix

Collider: There truly is something so beautiful about the relationship between Sweet Tooth and Jepp. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it and I can’t imagine we’ll see anything like it again. What has most surprised each of you about the journey you’ve taken with these characters, over the seasons? What have you loved most about getting to play with that relationship?

CONVERY: For me, the biggest change is the growth between both the characters. Gus was starting to see the outside world and he was maturing, and then in Season 3, there are much darker and more intense themes. He’s learning all about that while Jepperd is trying to take care of him as well.

ANOZIE: For me, what makes it so great is working with this young actor here. He’s just so talented. When we started this, he was eight years old, turning nine, when we shot the pilot, and he has a level of intelligence and creativity that you normally only get in adult stars. And we meshed immediately. I really get on with him and his mom, and I really feel like that transferred somehow onto the screen. There was an immediate level of trust and relaxation and comfortability that really does show when we play on the screen. That’s probably what it is. We weren’t acting a friendship. I genuinely get on with Christian.

Christian, what was it like for you to be working with Nonso over these seasons?

CONVERY: When I started, I was just nine years old, and I got to work with him over the course of five years. Even as actors, I’ve gotten to learn so much from him, as well as many others on set. Being alongside him throughout the journey is just something that I’m so glad I got to experience because he’s very talented. He taught me a lot of things without trying to teach me, and I really enjoyed that. That was a great experience. He’s awesome to work with. He’s the nicest man alive. I couldn’t ask for a better co-star.

ANOZIE: Man, you’re gonna make me cry. That’s the wonderful thing I realized pretty soon into the filming process. With a lot of child actors, people tend to talk to them like children and like they don’t know, but they’ve learned to operate in a very adult environment and with that level of intelligence. I talked to him like he’s an adult, and that’s why we got on.

CONVERY: Yeah, for sure.

Related ‘Sweet Tooth’: What To Expect From the Show’s Final Season Gus and the hybrids will return one last time!

Nonso, there’s something so interesting about Jepp’s arc, from the beginning of the series. From who he was, to who he becomes, to where he’s at when the series ends, he’s really had a redemption arc. After everything, do you think he feels worthy of redemption?

ANOZIE: There are a lot of questions that you ask about Jepp, as an audience member looking at whether he is gonna get that redemption from that split second when he walked away from his wife and child. I think the writers have done such a great job of putting in little Easter eggs along the way. On their way to Alaska, he has little moments where he’s starting to falter and he’s starting to lose belief, and then Gus gives him his energy back to keep going and to get that redemption. Is he going to make it? Is he going to get that redemption? I think that’s for the audience to decide.

Christian Convery & Nonso Anozie Share the Same Favorite ‘Sweet Tooth’ Moment
Image via Netflix

What is your favorite scene with each other this season and why?

ANOZIE: I would say mine is, “Tell me a story.”

CONVERY: That’s the most emotional scene because it all comes to a climax, everything that we’ve built up to, in that one scene. So much gets revealed and explained throughout that beautifully written scene, so that’s gotta be my favorite.

ANOZIE: It was getting to the end of the day, or it was getting close to lunch, I don’t remember which, but we really took time out to make sure that scene was given all the air and space that it could have, so that we can be as comfortable as we could to get in the zone. That was three years, all coming to one moment. So, for me, that was definitely my favorite scene of the season.

CONVERY: We had that incredible LED screen behind us. We were filming in the studio. I remember seeing [Nonso] on that rock with the camera behind you, and (creator) Jim [Mickle] all the way in the back.

ANOZIE: It was awesome.

Related ‘Sweet Tooth’ Season 3 Review: A Bumpy, Satisfying Journey to the End ‘Sweet Tooth’s final season depicts Gus growing into a leader and ends on one of the series’ best episodes.

Christian, how hard was it to shoot the scene where Gus’s mother dies in front of him in the cave? How long did you have to shoot that for? What’s it like to have to get through a scene like that?

CONVERY: That was a pretty big day. We had a lot of stuff going on that day. There were a couple more scenes after that one too, but it was at the start of the day. The way that I get prepared for those scenes, I don’t take it as real life. I always disconnect from that feeling afterwards, when I’ve completed that scene. It is acting, and you want to have that deep emotional connection with your character and the ones around you, but you always have to disconnect at the end of the day. I really just take the time to sit there and think about the circumstances that Gus and everyone else has been put through and I really let everything spill up. That’s how I do it. Never take anything to heart in acting, no matter how bad it is.

ANOZIE: Acting isn’t life-threatening. It’s a chance to play and explore.

Getting Will Forte Back For the Finale Was the Perfect Way to End ‘Sweet Tooth’
Image via Netflix

Christian, what was it like to get Will Forte back as Pubba for the end of the series?

CONVERY: It was like how Gus feels in the story. He was with Pubba at the very start, and I was with Will at the very start, and then he’s just gone. I’ve gone through such a journey and I’ve grown up as a human being. When Gus finally meets him again, he has so much more to tell him, and I got to tell Will all about working on the show. I was so happy that I got to see him and work with him again. And also, the way that he comes back makes it such a beautiful ending for Sweet Tooth. He was awesome. He’s an incredible actor and an incredible person.

ANOZIE: And I got to work with him at all. That was the first time I got to do a scene with him in all three seasons. It was a beautiful nod to fatherhood, an almost handing over the baton. It was like, “I’ve looked after him, and I’m glad you’re doing a good job of looking after him too.” That was a stroke of genius to bring Will back for that last scene. It was wonderful. It was brilliant, and he’s such a great guy. He’s such a wonderful actor. To be able to come in and out of a series like that, and to kill it in such a small scene, just shows his talent because it’s really hard to do that. When you’re working, like Christian and I, and Naledi [Murray], and Stefania [LaVie Owen], and you’re on every day, you get that relaxation and that momentum going. But when you come in and just give us a little gem and it’s perfect, that shows that he’s an extraordinarily talented actor.

Related The 10 Best Shows Like ‘Sweet Tooth’ For More Apocalyptic/Fantasy Dramas Go on a fantasy adventure with these shows.

I love the little family that Gus, Jepp, Becky, and Wendy have formed. They’ve become so important to each other, and they’re all important to Gus. What did you guys most enjoy about that little family that your characters formed, and then getting to see where they’re all left really by the end of the season?

ANOZIE: I loved the fact that we were together for most of the season. In Season 2, it was about that distance and Gus growing through his trauma of being with General Abbott and what he went through with that, and then us reuniting. For this season, not only for Sweet Tooth and Big Man to be together, but then you’ve got Becky and Wendy coming into the fray and we really do become a family. When you’ve got that to bounce off, when Christian and I already have such a good chemistry, it brings a warmth and a feel to it. The message that Sweet Tooth is trying to convey is that it’s not necessarily your blood family, but the family that you find can be the strongest bonds that you create.

CONVERY: It’s a universal message about found family, for sure. We made a bond in real life and would always go on little adventures on the weekend. All that off-screen chemistry translated on-screen.

Christian Convery & Nonso Anozie Got to Keep Some Very Special ‘Sweet Tooth’ Mementos

Did you guys get to take anything or keep anything from the set?

CONVERY: I have so much stuff from Sweet Tooth in my house. I have the original mold from when I was about eight years old and in prep for the show. That’s how they figured out the size of the cap that would hold my antlers and my wig. And then, I have a pair of the actual antlers framed with a glass covering that’s hanging on the wall. I also have the cap that I used, as well. I have so many souvenirs.

ANOZIE: I didn’t get quite so much stuff. I’ve got a clapper board that we used to begin and end scenes. I’ve got one of those from every season. And I’ve got the original Big Man brown leather jacket. For me, that was the iconic thing that really made me feel like the character, so I had to keep it. I’ll probably wear it on Halloween someday.

CONVERY: I should wear my antlers for Halloween. After five years of being connected with these amazing people on this incredible project, I definitely wanted something to keep, for sure.

ANOZIE: Especially filming through what was a global pandemic and managing to get that done. It’s a show about a global pandemic that actually goes way worse, and to be able to do it successfully and were number one on Netflix twice in a row, that will hopefully become three times, was just a wonderful thing. It’s a beautiful blessing, and I don’t think it’s anything I’ll ever forget it. It’s left an indelible mark on my heart for the rest of my life because there are so many things, for me personally, that it mirrors in my life, being a father and sometimes asking questions like, “Can I do this?” I get to enjoy the relationship I have with my own son, and then transfer that onto screen into the love Big Man has for Gus. It’s so beautiful. We’re so lucky to be able to do this job.

CONVERY: We are. This was definitely the best experience of my life, hands down.

Sweet Tooth is available to stream on Netflix. Check out the Season 3 trailer:

Watch on Netflix