Unfortunately, no one will be experiencing Euphoria for another calendar year—if they ever experience it again. In March 2024, rumors swirled that HBO had scrapped the third season of Euphoria entirely. However, a spokesperson for HBO has confirmed that while production on season three of Euphoria has been delayed, the network and series creator Sam Levinson “remain committed” to making the hit teen drama show.
“HBO and Sam Levinson remain committed to making an exceptional third season,” an HBO spokesperson told Variety. “In the interim, we are allowing our in-demand cast to pursue other opportunities.”
Earlier this year, HBO chairman Casey Bloys confirmed that Euphoria, the hit teen drama from auteur Levinson starring Emmy-winner Zendaya, will return to the premium cable network in 2025 after about three years off air.
Details about the third season have been kept close to the chest, with Levinson telling Elle in August that he sees the third season of Euphoria as a “film noir.” In the coming episodes, Zendaya’s troubled but well-intentioned Rue will “explore what it means to be an individual with principles in a corrupt world,” Levinson said at the time. Read on to learn what else we know about the upcoming episodes, including info from Sydney Sweeney about when filming may commence.
So Euphoria isn’t back for at least another year?!
Production for season three of Euphoria has not yet begun, in part due to 2023’s writers and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Sorry!
Before the announcement of the delay, Sweeney said in a recent interview with GQ UK that “people will be really amazed with what season three becomes.” Initially, the publication reported that filming on the now-delayed season three was set to begin in the next two months. Whenever production on season three begins, Sweeney told GQ UK that the season will mark a departure for the series. “I think that’s good because seasons one and two were so different,” Sweeney said. (Vanity Fair has reached out to HBO for comment on the filming schedule.)
Perhaps the change is a time-jump, as suggested by series costume designer Heidi Bivens last April. “There is talk of it being approximately five years in the future, and that they’re not in high school anymore,” she told Vogue. “Dorothy’s not in Kansas anymore. I mean, it might be a total trip. Who can say? But knowing Sam’s brain, it’s gonna be exciting, and he will challenge all of us, because he won't want to repeat himself. It’ll be something new for the audience to discover.”
Series lead Jacob Elordi also poked fun at the extended timeline between seasons while on The Tonight Show at the start of the year. “I hope it’s soon, or they’re going to have to Benjamin Button me or something,” he joked. “I’m going to have a bad back walking down the hallway, you know?”
What happened at the end of season two, anyway?
The season two finale of Euphoria was, to put it mildly, a doozy. It picks up with the second part of a very meta play written by Lexi (Maude Apatow) about her childhood in Euphoria-ville. Maddy (Alexa Demie) comes to the startling realization that she is a central character in the play (“Is this play about us?”), causing her to go on a slap-happy rampage against her ex-best friend, Cassie (Sweeney), that completely derails the performance.
Outside of the theater, Nate (Elordi) confronts his father, Cal (Eric Dane), with a flash drive containing all of Cal’s explicit videos, and tips off the police about them, leading to Cal’s arrest. Fez (Angus Cloud) also has a run-in with the police, resulting in a shoot-out in his apartment where his “little brother” Ashtray (Javon Walton), is shot and Fez is arrested. Rue has a heart-to-heart with her estranged BFF-slash-girlfriend, Jules (Hunter Schafer), confessing her love for Jules and hoping to reconcile. The season ends on a cautiously optimistic note as Rue reveals that she stayed clean for the rest of the school year and is, for once, looking forward to the future.
Can I at least watch the stars of Euphoria somewhere else while I wait for the new season?
Yes! While Euphoria has been off the air since airing its second season finale on February27,2022, its cast of troubled teens have been keeping busy filming other projects. Zendaya was set to star in two highly anticipated films this fall—Denis Villeneuve’s Dune follow-up, Dune: Part Two, and Luca Guadagnino’s tennis ménage à trois, Challengers, costarring Josh Charles and Mike Faist. However, both films were postponed to 2024 due to Hollywood strikes.
