When Euphoria first glitter-bombed its way onto our screens in 2019, jaws collectively dropped. Created by Sam Levinson, it was an audacious melodrama that cracked open the x-rated lives of suburban teens with giddy camera work, sparkly eye make-up and hormonal meltdowns. Focusing on teenage drug addict Rue, played by Zendaya, and her boundary-pushing adolescent peers, it was bold in every way: unflinching in its exploration of addiction, abuse and violent crime, unafraid of full frontal nudity and graphic sex and willing to take creative risks like the stunning musical number that ended series one. Watching it was often exhilarating and sometimes exhausting.
But where once Euphoria was one of the most talked about shows on television, the news this week that its third season will shortly begin filming has been met with a mixed and muted response. When production resumes – in January, according to recent comments from HBO’s Casey Bloys – it will be three years since the premiere of season two and likely another year (at least) before new episodes make it to viewers.
For a show that made its name by depicting beautiful messiness, there is an irony that it’s the behind-the-scenes messiness that may be its undoing. The long wait between series has been peppered with headlines about creative differences, personality clashes and script rewrites. Where Levinson was once one of TV’s most exciting talents, he is now tainted by the disaster of The Idol, his catastrophic 2023 series that starred The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp. Not only was it a critical and commercial flop but also the subject of a damning Rolling Stone investigation that alleged a toxic work environment.
Teased by HBO Max as a darker and even more risqué Euphoria, The Idol followed troubled pop star Jocelyn (Depp), who finds herself in the “sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood” with sordid cult leader Tedros (The Weeknd).
With anonymous claims to the outlet comparing Levinson’s new story to “torture porn” and alleging the set’s environment was chaotic and poorly managed, the director was put under scrutiny again.
In a statement sent to The Independent responding to claims about The Idol, HBO said at the time: “The creators and producers of The Idol have been working hard to create one of HBO’s most exciting and provocative original programs.
“The initial approach on the show and production of the early episodes, unfortunately, did not meet HBO standards so we chose to make a change.
“Throughout the process, the creative team has been committed to creating a safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful working environment, and last year, the team made creative changes they felt were in the best interest of both the production and the cast and crew.”
Back at Euphoria, there were similar unhappy murmurings over Levinson’s autocratic approach – rumours that he and Zendaya had fallen out and controversy over Barbie Ferreira whose character barely appeared in season two and who subsequently announced she would be leaving the show (claiming the decision was “mutual”). There were wide reports that Levinson’s ideas for the third series (which apparently included Rue becoming a private investigator) were poorly received by its star and by HBO.
And in a late January 2022 interview with The Independent, Sydney Sweeney opened up about her reluctance to film the show’s nude scenes. Throughout Euphoria’s first season, Sweeney’s character Cassie is shown topless several times. Levinson had apparently wanted to continue this into season two, however, it was changed at Sweeney’s request. And co-stars Chloe Cherry and Martha Kerry also spoke out about their discomfort on set and their “hesitance” to film nude scenes.
And aside from the insider bickering, the show was beset by real life tragedy: the devastating deaths in 2023 of both breakout star Angus Cloud, who played drug dealer Fezco, and executive producer, Kevin Turen.
A wedding? A strip club? OnlyFans?
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From being a show that gleefully courted controversy, Euphoria has become one desperately, and unsuccessfully, trying to avoid it. Given the length of time since last season ended, no wonder fans are more preoccupied with the off-screen drama than wondering about the cliffhanger it left dangling.
But while Euphoria might have been frozen in time, things have not stood still for its cast. When the show first aired, Zendaya was best known as a Disney starlet and pop singer. Now she is a double Emmy award winner, a critical darling thanks to tennis drama Challengers and she has just been cast in Christopher Nolan’s next project. And where many of her castmates were then unknowns, now they are some of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Jacob Elordi is fresh off the back of Priscilla and Saltburn success and reuniting with Emerald Fennell for her Wuthering Heights adaptation. Sydney Sweeney starred in 2023’s hit romcom Anyone But You and Hunter Schafer led horror movie Cuckoo. Even one of the series veteran actors, Colman Domingo, is finally getting the spotlight he deserves, hotly tipped for a second Oscar nomination for prison drama Sing Sing.
Simply put, it is unlikely that Euphoria is the top priority of any of these actors anymore and several of them seem less than enthusiastic – it was only in August that Schafer said on the Call Her Daddy podcast that she had "no f**king idea what is going on” with the show and admitted a return was “going to be tough”. Based on her most recent comments, even Zendaya – an executive producer – is in the dark as to what the third season will look like.
For a show that thrives as an ensemble piece, it is a major concern that packed schedules might hamper the storytelling or result in contrived absences (the likes of which Derry Girls only just got away with when Nicola Coughlan’s Bridgerton commitments kept her away from set).
Then of course, there is the evergreen problem for shows set in high school whose success outlasts their characters’ graduations: even Hollywood’s most powerful producers can’t prevent the passage of time. Euphoria is apparently opting for a time jump that will move beyond its high school setting. On one hand, this makes sense with most of the cast now in their late twenties. But on the other, it raises big questions over whether that shift from teendom to adulthood actually works for the DNA of this show. Euphoria’s entire renegade ethos was about shock factor and exposing the dark underbelly of growing up. Following these characters outside of their adolescent bubble is a very different prospect. Post-school, rarely do people exclusively stay in the same friendship groups: there is a whole world to explore and this is the time to do it. In Euphoria’s case, it is especially hard to believe that these young people – so desperate to discover themselves and experiment – would choose to stay in the same place with the same people.
Like a teenager at their most emotionally chaotic, Euphoria always had the feeling of a show that might self-combust spectacularly but in actuality, the show’s production has been agonisingly slow to progress. There was an urgency to it that has been lost in the interim – a cultural phenomenon, however seismic, can only sustain itself so long without fuel. This is a show that would have benefitted from a fast turnaround – capitalising on the moment and doubling down on its intensity. Instead, the buzz has died and the world has moved on. Given the seemingly endless setbacks, it is hard to believe that season three will actually materialise but if it doesn’t, perhaps that is for the best. Most high school sweethearts don’t stay together forever: maybe Euphoria and its audience just need to make peace with the relationship fizzling out rather than giving it one last – potentially disappointing –go.
