Sterling Point's Creator Explains Why Annie Has Sex With Rory & Not Ellis
Showrunner Megan Park was very intentional about the show's only sex scene.
While some trendy romantic dramas are filled with sex scenes, Sterling Point only has one major intimate hookup in its first season. This was a very deliberate choice by creator Megan Park. The decision to have Annie lose her virginity to Rory, but remain chaste (well, for the most part) with her other love interest Ellis has stirred up a lot of discussion among shippers. Park doesn’t think this sexual dynamic substantially shifts the love triangle in either direction, but instead just exemplifies the different but equally viable relationships Annie has developed with her two crushes.
“Rory's the one that Annie spills her guts to multiple times in very deep ways. Rory is very safe to her,” Park tells Elite Daily. “That's why we made the choice for her to lose her virginity to Rory.”
True enough, Annie’s interactions with Rory are defined by an almost therapeutic understanding, in which Annie can vocalize her inner turmoil with a sense of knowing security. “He allows her the space for the first time to really just confess,” Park says. “It felt so perfect for Annie at 18 to be like, ‘You know what? I trust Rory. He's a safe guy. He's a really good guy, and he has really good intentions, and I want to do this. F*ck it.’”
On the other end of things, Annie’s relationship with Ellis felt more tenuous at the show’s beginning — they were strangers still getting to know one another, rather than old friends reconnecting. “There was something about Annie and Ellis never even actually sleeping together that felt more right for those characters,” Park says.
Park also clarifies that Annie’s state of worry after sleeping with Rory had nothing to do with her bedmate, but was instead rooted in her going against her usual Type-A nature. “What she was regretting or struggling with afterwards was just her doing something without planning it,” Park says.
Although Season 1’s finale clearly sets up Annie and Ellis’ relationship, Park still has a soft spot for Rory, and doesn’t want fans to be too hard on him for his final words. “His intentions in his last scene with Annie, when he was talking about trying to help get her into Wharton, he is trying to help,” Park says. “And when he says, ‘But nobody lives here,’ he's not wrong. It's just the wrong moment and the delivery, and all that kind of thing.”
“I think in another world, Rory would actually be an amazing choice for Annie,” Park concludes.
