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- Euphoria was renewed for season 3 in 2022.
- Season 3 has been delayed due to the writers’ strike.
- The core cast is expected to return.
You don’t have to worry. There’s more Euphoria drama on the way. Euphoria will return for season 3, but filming has yet to start as of May 2023. Euphoria has become one of HBO’s biggest hits, so it’s no surprise that the show quickly got the green light for season 3. In addition to being a rating juggernaut, Euphoria is the most tweeted-about show of the decade. There was a long wait between the first 2 seasons, and now we know that season 3 has been delayed.
“Sam [Levinson], Zendaya, and the entire cast and crew of Euphoria have taken season 2 to extraordinary heights, challenging narrative convention and form, while maintaining its heart. We couldn’t be more honored to work with this gifted, wildly talented team or more excited to continue our journey with them into season 3,” Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President of HBO Programming, said in a statement.
The show has become so huge that it’s officially HBO’s most-watched show behind Game of Thrones, with per-episode viewership for season 2 averaging over 16 million viewers. During the show’s massive second season, HBO and the cast revealed on February 4, 2022, with a simple video that the show would return for a third season. HollywoodLife has rounded up all the latest news about the release date, plot details, and more that you need to know.
Premiere Date
HBO has not announced Euphoria’s season 3 release date. The network has only confirmed that a third season is happening. Fans initially speculated that season 3 could premiere in 2024, but that’s not happening. It’s looking like 2025 at the earliest due to Zendaya’s busy schedule and the writers’ strike.
“Euphoria is one of those that we had begun writing in tandem with post-production on Idol but at this point, we don’t have countless scripts,” Francesca Orsi, HBO’s head of drama, told Deadline. “We can’t start shooting, so the delivery of that show — ideally in 2025 — will be determined on when we can pick back up with Sam, who at this point is all pencils down and just finishing posts on Idol.”
The show has not started filming season 3 yet. When asked about a potential 2024 release date, Zendaya told Entertainment Tonight at the show’s For Your Consideration event in April 2022: “I think that might be true. I honestly don’t know. There [are] some executives that know better than me, you might wanna ask them. I’m gonna be busy for a while.”
The first season premiered in June 2019, and season 2 didn’t premiere until almost 3 years later in January 2022 because of COVID-19 delays. There will likely be another 3-year wait between seasons 2 and 3. Filming is expected to begin sometime in 2023, but that could be pushed depending on the length of the writers’ strike.
In February 2023, Vogue revealed in a Maude Apatow profile that season 2 was “not scheduled to begin shooting until the latter half of 2023.” Maude admitted that she doesn’t know “a single thing” about season 3. “We should be getting scripts and hearing about next season soon-ish, but I’m totally in the dark!” she added.
Euphoria Season 3 Cast
Zendaya is confirmed to return as Rue. The actress reportedly “just closed a big re-negotiation” and will earn $1 million per episode in season 2, according to Puck.
Additional cast members who are almost a sure thing for season 3 are Hunter Schafer as Jules, Maude Apatow as Lexi, Sydney Sweeney as Cassie, Jacob Elordi as Nate, Alexa Demie as Maddy, Angus Cloud as Fezco, Storm Reid as Gia, Nika King as Leslie, and Colman Domingo as Ali.
On August 24, 2022, Barbie Ferreira revealed that she would not be returning for season 3. She confirmed she was leaving the show via Instagram Story. Barbie played Kat Hernandez for the first 2 seasons.
“After 4 years of getting to embody the most special and enigmatic character Kat, I’m having to say a very teary-eyed goodbye,” Barbie wrote. “I hope many of you could see yourself in her like I did and that she brought you joy to see her journey into the character she is today. I put all my care and love into her and I hope you guys could feel it. Love you, Katherine Hernandez.”
Barbie Ferreira just announced that she’s leaving Euphoria THIS CANT BE 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/tqv4XRqhee
— lance 😑 (@romarlance) August 24, 2022
Barbie posted a picture of a drawing by her co-star Hunter Schafer. The drawing was of her character in Euphoria.
While there was some speculation about Zendaya’s longevity on the show and the possibility that could be killed off, HBO’s Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys set the record straight. “It’s hard to imagine doing [the] show without her, But, again, that would be something [for] her and Sam to discuss,” Casey told TVLine. He also added, “She’s going to be in season 3.”
Dominic Fike, who joined the cast in season 2 as Elliot, said on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon that fans should “absolutely” expect to see him again in Euphoria season 3. Dominic is also a musician and has been given the opportunity to decide if (or when) his character will exit the series.
“Sam was always giving me the option to leave. He was like, ‘Whenever you want to go be a musician, dude, you let me know, I’ll kill you [and write you off the show],’” Dominic told GQ.
Season 2 ended with what appeared to be Ashtray’s death during a police shootout. However, Javon “Wanna” Walton isn’t giving up all hope that we could see Ash again someday.
“Well, you see [Fez] get arrested, so I’m sure he is going to be in the back of a cop car. And with Ashtray, we’re not 100 percent if he’s dead, because you saw absolutely no blood, right? And you didn’t see him fall. You did hear the bullet, but you didn’t see him get shot. So, there [are] little things that could potentially bring him back for another season,” Javon told Entertainment Weekly.
Months later in August 2022, Javon seemed to have come to the conclusion that Ash didn’t make it out of the raid alive. “I do think Ash is dead,” Javon admitted to ET. “As much as I loved Euphoria, I’ve moved on.”
Eric Dane fully believes Cal will be back for season 3. “There’s gonna be redemption,” he told Variety. “I mean, that’s the trajectory he’s on. I can’t imagine Cal’s life from solitary confinement. It’s tough to work Cal into the storyline when he’s behind bars.”
The entire cast is incredibly busy at the moment, which is why the show hasn’t immediately started filming season 3. Zendaya is finishing up filming Challengers and will soon begin filming the Dune sequel. Sydney recently wrapped filming National Anthem with Halsey and is set to star in the upcoming Sony Marvel movie Madame Web.
Hunter was just cast in The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, while Jacob has several films in the works.
As for Zendaya’s beau Tom Holland, a cameo appearance on Euphoria still hasn’t officially happened yet. The Spider-Man: No Way Home star has expressed his wish to appear on the hit teen series at some point. “I have been petitioning for this for a long time, and it has not happened yet and I’m very disappointed. I must have come to visit Euphoria at least 30 times this season,” Tom told IMDb when talking about season 2.
He stressed, “I want to be on Euphoria!” Zendaya responded, “Ok, let me talk to some people.” Many fans believed they spotted Tom in the audience during Lexi’s play in season 2, and Zendaya has remained coy about whether it not it was really Tom. “Could be. Could be true. Can’t confirm or deny. The world may never know,” the actress told Access.
How Did Season 2 End?
Euphoria season 2 ended in a dramatic fashion, with Lexi’s play reaching its climax. Cassie stormed the stage after getting dumped by Nate and had a full-blown breakdown in front of the audience. Lexi and Cassie’s mom ultimately had to break up the fight between the sisters on stage. Maddy ended up running to the stage to confront Cassie, and Cassie ran out of the auditorium with Maddy chasing after her.
Cassie revealed to Maddy that Nate broke up with her, and Maddy wasn’t the least bit surprised. “Don’t worry, this is just the beginning,” Maddy told Cassie.
While the drama went down at the high school, Nate drove to his father’s construction site to settle the score once and for all. Nate admitted that he found Cal’s stash of sex tapes when he was only 11, and the footage he saw caused irreparable damage. Cal apologized for what he put Nate through, but his apology fell on deaf ears.
Nate was determined to get his revenge and pulled out a flash drive that was full of Cal’s sexual encounters over the years. Nate watched as his father was arrested by the police.
A flashback revealed that Rue went to visit Elliot days before the play. She admitted that he saved her life. Elliot played a song for Rue and asked if they could be friends again. Rue brought up the fact that Elliot told her they were bad for each other, and Elliot didn’t disagree with that.
After Lexi’s play was over, Jules told Rue that she loved her and missed her. Rue said nothing but gave Jules a kiss on the forehead. Rue’s voiceover revealed that she was able to stay sober through the end of the school year.
As for Fezco, he tried with all his might to make it to Lexi’s play, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Faye was able to clue Fezco in on Custer working with the police just as he was about to leave. Ashtray went off script and stabbed Custer in the neck. Fezco realized that the police were going to be there any minute, so he put his fingerprints on the knife to make it look like he killed Custer.
Ashtray refused to let Fezco take the blame for Custer and Mouse’s death, so he locked himself in the bathroom with guns. The police broke down Fez’s door and began shooting. Fezco got shot and begged Ashtray to surrender. The police broke down the bathroom door and found Ashtray seemingly unconscious on the floor. Ashtray then popped up and killed the officer.
After that, the camera went to Fezco’s face, and a single gunshot was heard off-camera. Fezco and Faye were arrested, with Fezco’s unopened letter to Lexi lying on the floor.
What Will Happen in Season 3?
Seasons 1 and 2 both consisted of 8 episodes. The third season is expected to have 8 episodes as well, but HBO has not confirmed the official number as of yet. Plot details for Euphoria season 3 are being kept under wraps, but you can expect a continuation of the storylines from the end of season 2.
Fezco is likely to be in prison when season 3 picks up. Fezco is smart, but that raid went off the rails. Despite the dire circumstances for Fez at the end of season 2, Angus has hope for his character. “Everyone can change, you know? He’s just a survivor. He’s going to figure out how to make the best of situations,” the actor told The Hollywood Reporter. He also noted that Fez is “going to have some time to sit and think” about what happened to Ashtray, hinting at Fez’s future possibly behind bars.
Cassie showed a whole new side of herself when she had a meltdown over Lexi’s play. Her on-again, off-again relationship with Nate is far from over, and Sydney wants to explore more of “evil” Cassie in the future. “There was a bit of Cassie that I got to play with when she started saying that she’s crazier than Maddy in a scene with Nate. And she kind of got a little more evil and dark and serious, and not so frantic. I would love to play with more of that streak within herself,” Sydney told Variety.
Maddy and Cassie’s longtime friendship was destroyed after Maddy found out Cassie was hooking up with Nate behind her back. “We obviously end with Maddy and Cassie’s gorgeous friendship shattered. So, that leaves one to question whether or not they will reconnect, [if the] female friendship will thrive or if they will just never talk to each other again,” Alexa told Entertainment Tonight.
Alexa also weighed in on Maddy’s personal journey in season 3. “Maddy is extremely internal and reflecting on a lot of what has gone down between the two people she cared about and thought cared about her,” she said. “I think she’s figuring out where to go next and finding more independence.”
As for Jacob, he’s expecting Sam Levinson to completely shock him with Nate’s turn in season 3. “Given the change in the second season, I’d imagine [season 3] would just be a complete shock again,” he revealed to Entertainment Tonight. “It could just be like a completely new show again.” Could Nate and Jules become friends — for real this time — after he gave her the tape of her sexual encounter with Cal? Anything is possible, really.
Zendaya on Rue’s future in #Euphoria: “We carried her all the way to hopefully what is rock bottom and a dark moment, and hopefully by the end leave with a sense of happiness and joy that there is hope for her in the end.” https://t.co/RUCrjBRQLl pic.twitter.com/SZfnkXCej6
— Variety (@Variety) April 21, 2022
After a gut-wrenching season for Rue, Zendaya believes there’s “hope” for Rue in season 3. “We carried her all the way to hopefully what is rock bottom and a dark moment, and hopefully by the end leave with a sense of happiness and joy that there is hope for her in the end,” she told Variety.
Colman revealed that Ali will likely get some backstory in the third season. “I’ve had some small conversations with Sam [Levinson], and I know that he’s going to take some big swings because he’s that kind of an artist. The moment you’re comfortable with the show, he’s got to pull the rug out from under you just a little bit,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “I think he really wants to unpack Ali. Show some backstory.” This post will be updated as more Euphoria season 3 details become available.
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