Joshua Jackson has no problem talking about sex.

In our time together, he doesn’t blush when referencing a woman’s nipples or breaking down how two people “fuck” on television. He’s been viewed as a sex symbol since he was a teen, playing the class- clown-turned-heartthrob Pacey Witter on “Dawson’s Creek,” and now it’s just who he is.

And it’s a very big part of “Fatal Attraction.” “The sex scenes are of great importance,” says Jackson, 44, “because they’re furthering the narrative. You have to believe that these people want to fuck each other.” The series, which premieres on Paramount+ on April 30, doesn’t shy away from the kind of nudity that Hollywood used to pepper R-rated adult movies with in the ’70s and ’80s.

Most know the story behind the 1987 film starring Glenn Close and Michael Douglas, which grossed $320 million worldwide and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture. It didn’t come without controversy. The movie paints Douglas’ Dan Gallagher as a hapless victim after having an affair with Close’s Alex Forrest, who becomes murderously obsessed with him. At the time of its release, the movie created a discussion around the consequences of infidelity and casual sex in general, especially amid the AIDS epidemic. It influenced dozens of psychological thrillers, from thirsty teen drama “Swimfan” to “Obsessed,” starring Beyoncé.

The show, however, is a bit more up-to-date, showing Alex’s point of view as well as Dan’s, and giving her character more depth and complexity.

“I went back and watched the original,” Jackson says, “and was like, ‘ Holy shit, we’ve come a long way.’ The movie is incredible, but the gender dynamics are impossible to wrap your head around.”

This time, Dan isn’t exactly a victim. In fact, he’s kind of a shithead district attorney, in Jackson’s opinion: “The second his principles bump up against his convenience, he chooses his convenience.”

But the physical connection between Dan and Alex — played by Lizzy Caplan — remains an important part of the story. Creator Alexandra Cunningham, director Silver Tree and intimacy coordinator Nicole Randall guided the pair through their sex scenes, but after years

of such work, both actors already knew what they were doing.

“We’ve both had experiences where you didn’t have that connection with your co-star,” Caplan says, “and it’s a bit soul- crushing. So we were very much on the same page.” The two had “very explicit” conversations about the specifics of the intimate scenes to create a trust that translated on-screen.

“One of my pet peeves is two characters have sex, and it’s the most amazing sex she’s ever had,” Jackson says. “She wakes up in the morning, and she pulls the sheet up over her breasts. I’ve never in my life had great sex with somebody and then have them be like, ‘But I don’t want you to see my nipples in the morning.’”

Caplan couldn’t have been more comfortable with Jackson — which is surprising considering she’d just welcomed her first child as filming began, so wasn’t feeling so secure shooting close-ups. “As I’m trying to figure out how this new postpartum body works, Joshua was right there to help me out,” she says. “Want to know what true feminism is? That, in a man.”

Nearly three years ago, Jackson welcomed his first child, a daughter, with his wife, Jodie Turner-smith. It changed everything — including what types of roles he takes. “There are things I would have been interested in doing before having the baby, like playing a real racist motherfucker,” Jackson says. “Now, it’s just not something that I want to put on camera and have my daughter see.”

For the most part, Jackson and Turner-smith don’t involve the baby in their work lives. But their daughter, whose name they’re keeping private, has visited the set with her mom on Bill Lawrence’s upcoming series, “Bad Monkey.”

Jackson and Turner-smith do watch each other’s work though. “Jodie is not fussed about my sex scenes,” Jackson says. And, anyway, he finds more intimacy in scenes between characters falling in love, since sex scenes are more technical. After a pause, he laughs and adds, “The sex scenes themselves, Jodie kind of enjoys them, actually. It’s a weird thing where she’s like a voyeur. So that works! If that’s your thing — excellent.”

Jackson, who has been acting since he was 11 (with a breakout role as a hockey player in Disney’s “The Mighty Ducks”), is attracted to story more than genre. But he’s also not looking to do a series that could run forever. In fact, he made sure that wasn’t the case for “Fatal Attraction” when signing on. The drama has a set endpoint.

Working hard doesn’t scare him — and that’s proven by his résumé. He recalls the two toughest jobs of his life: “Fringe,” starring in 100 episodes that had scripts changing all the time, and “Dawson’s Creek,” a wordy show that he led for 128 episodes. Pacey was supposed to be Dawson’s lesser sidekick. Within 10 episodes, the actor’s charm made it impossible to view him as anything less than a leading man, one who gets the girl in the end.

“‘Dawson’s Creek’ never ever thought that young people are stupid,” Jackson says. “It never spoke down to anyone. We weren’t trying to be too cool. ‘Gossip Girl’ was trying to be in the zeitgeist and be cool to kids. We were all nerdy kids. It doesn’t have to be ‘Euphoria’ to have an impact.”

After “Fatal Attraction,” Jackson will be going back to his roots — both figuratively and literally. For the first time since “Dawson’s Creek” wrapped in 2003, he’ll return to Wilmington, N.C., to film Ava Duvernay’s untitled half-hour drama for Starz alongside co-star Lauren Ridloff, a deaf actress who made her acting debut opposite Jackson on Broadway’s “Children of a Lesser God,” which led to a Tony nomination in 2018. Both Jackson and Ridloff will executive produce.

“It’s a love story,” Jackson says. “The question that the show is asking is, ‘Can you ever truly see another human being?’”

While he knew it wouldn’t be easy to relearn sign language for this project, Jackson felt after the Broadway run ended that he had to find a way to keep working with Ridloff. “That’s why I chased Ava down and made her listen to this pitch,” he says. “And I love that the deafness is not at the periphery of our story.”

Simple love stories are rare on television these days, Jackson says. He adds that while more dramas bring in supernatural elements and time travel, that doesn’t have to be the case.

“Frankly, your actors suck if you need 10,000 things,” he says of the changing landscape. “We dealt with this a little bit on ‘The Affair,’” he says, bringing up a more recent role. “As much as the murder mystery was a central part of the first season, I don’t think it was ultimately necessary. Because it’s enough drama — the ‘he said, she said’ of it all. And an affair inside of a marriage is enough.”

After all, no one likes to be ignored.

“The sex scenes, Jodie kind of enjoys them. It’s a weird thing where she’s like a voyeur. So that works! ” —JOSHUA JACKSON

1 ALEXYS CORONEL ( AMAZON ADS) 2 SEAN BOYLE (HBO MAX, WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY), LAUREL DUQUETTE (SNAPCHAT) & TODD SPANGLER (VARIETY) 3 LISA VANDERPUMP 4 CYNTHIA LITTLETON ( VARIETY) & JOSH LINE ( PARAMOUNT) 5 JON GOODSTADT (ROKU) 6 JANA ARBANAS (DELOITTE) 7 LINDA DUNCOMBE (CITY NATIONAL BANK) 8 JACK HAGER (AUDACY) 9 KIMBERLY PAIGE (BET) 10 DEON GRAHAM (COMBS GLOBAL), CLAUDIA CHAGUI (NBCUNIVERSAL TELEMUNDO ENTERPRISES), JAY TUCKER (UCLA ANDERSON SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT), CHRISTINE BENITEZ (PARAMOUNT PICTURES) & ELLENE V. MILES (SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT/MOTION PICTURE GROUP) 11 TERRY CREWS 12 AUBRIANA ALVAREZ LOPEZ (SAMSUNG ADS) 13 ADAM FOGELSON (LIONSGATE MOTION PICTURE GROUP), CLAUDIA ELLER ( VARIETY) & JOE DRAKE (LIONSGATE MOTION PICTURE GROUP) 14 ELANA SULZER (SPOTIFY) 15 ALLAN COOK ( DELOITTE DIGITAL) & JOHN ZEIGLER (SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP) 16 MARC WEINSTOCK (PARAMOUNT PICTURES), CHRISTIAN PARKES (NEON), KAREN BRONZO ( WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY), CATHERINE HALABY (TIKTOK) & DWIGHT CAINES (UNIVERSAL PICTURES)