‘Love on the Spectrum’ Creator Cian O’Clery Knows His Cast Are “The Most Important Critics”

Through no fault of its own, Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum has been thrust into the national discourse. Thanks to the bizarre and alarming comments that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, has made about autism—which include everything from threatening to start a national registry to track those diagnosed with autism, to claiming that autistic individuals will never pay taxes, hold a job, or go on a date—the world has its eyes on the US’s approach to members in the autistic community.

With his series Love on the Spectrum, which follows the romantic journeys of adults with autism, director Cian O’Clery has already proven Kennedy wrong on at least one front. The third season of Love on the Spectrum, which O’Clery created with Karina Holden and production company Northern Pictures, has been in-and-out of Netflix’s top 10 most watched series on the platform ever since it debuted on April 2nd. “It’s kind of blown up in the last couple of days,” O’Clery tells Vanity Fair, of both his series and the discourse.

He didn’t have the U.S. government in mind when he created Love on the Spectrum in his native Australia six years ago. A three-time Emmy winning reality TV veteran who’s worked on the Australian version of dating shows like Married at First Sight, O’Clery was initially drawn to the idea of a reality dating series that didn’t have a competitive aspect. “I’ve worked in the reality space back in the day where it was a lot more difficult,” he says. “The people we work with are just so lovely and kind.”

Now, the people O’Clery works with are speaking out against RFK. Jr. In an interview with News Nation, Love on the Spectrum star Dani Bowman called Kennedy’s comments about the autistic community “completely false.” “Autistic people have the same hopes, dreams and, yes, the same awkward dating moments as anyone else,” she said. “To generalize and say none of us can work, date or contribute to society, is completely false. I have a job. I do pay taxes. I’ve dated. I have a master’s degree.”

On TikTok, Love on the Spectrum star James B. Jones said he found Kennedy’s comments to be “extremely ignorant, and to be perfectly frank, downright offensive.” “I am old enough, I am of sufficient age that I can remember a time when society did not have a very thorough understanding of autism or similar forms of neurodiversity,” he continued. “So, I am very displeased, very disheartened to hear someone make comments of that nature.”

O’Clery is proud of his cast for speaking truth to power. “Good for them for speaking up,” he says. “Obviously those comments are hurtful to some people. I think it’s great that people are turning to the cast from the series to be those voices of people who experienced this and who have the life experience to be able to speak to those things.”

Helming three seasons of Love on the Spectrum exposed O’Clery to the diverse array of individuals on the autism spectrum. “Meeting so many different people on the spectrum, we realized how very different each and every individual person is,” he says. “In the media space, traditionally, often a representation of autism would’ve been one character in the drama, often a white nerdy guy who’s good with computers.”

Below, O’Clery talks with VF about his inspiration for creating the series and where some of season three’s favorite couples stand now.