It’s customary for a TV show’s season finale to tie up loose ends, but when Euphoria’s second season ended last year, the prevailing question on everyone’s lips was, quite rightly: What the fuck? Now we have to play the waiting game until 2025 to see how Euphoria season three ties everything up.
What we do know is that, after the furore surrounding The Idol, creator Sam Levinson has been working on the story for Euphoria season three next. Sam spoke to Elle magazine as part of a Zendaya profile, and mentioned that he thought of the forthcoming third season of Euphoria as a “film noir”, and that in it, Rue (Z’s character) would “explore what it means to be an individual with principles in a corrupt world”.
So, what else do we know is coming in season three of Euphoria? What are we seeking the answers for? And when in God’s name can we actually see it? Here’s everything we know so far about the future of Euphoria.
How did season two of Euphoria end?
There are moments we would have liked to reach a more formal conclusion — like, doesn’t Rue owe a drug dealer $10k, one who’s threatened to sell her into sex slavery if she can’t repay the debt? — but for the most part, the show ended with the kind of low-stakes, open-ended conclusion we’ve come to expect from Sam Levinson this season. Rue is sober, and is on amicable terms with Jules again. Cal Jacobs has been arrested, in a sort-of sting set up by his son Nate, who’s now left Cassie (to which Maddy comments “Don’t worry; this is just the beginning”). Lexi’s successfully thrown a spanner in the works of her family with her jaw-dropping meta play. The only measurable casualty is young Ashtray, who sacrificed himself during a police raid for Fez. Oh, and Elliot sang a song (?).
The closest a returning character got to a solid conclusion seemed to be Cal Jacobs, who after his wild journey in the Euphoria universe — from secretly recording his sexual encounter with Jules, to coming out as a queer man to his family, drunk and with his dick hanging out — was lead away in cuffs by the police.
What will happen in Euphoria season three?
Speaking in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Zendaya revealed some details of what she’d like from the show’s characters for season three. “I think it’ll be exciting to explore the characters out of high school,” she said. “I want to see what Rue looks like in her sobriety journey, how chaotic that might look. But also with all the characters, in the sense where they’re trying to figure out what to do with their lives when high school is over and what kind of people they want to be.”
The ensemble format, where we spend time with each character with Rue as a de-facto lead, is set to continue too: “What was special about this season was that we got to dive into [the other characters] in a much deeper sense,” she said. “I think we can do that again with the third season. There’s so much talent, you want to make sure everybody has the chance to have that.”
It’s not yet known how the show will work with Fez’s narrative since Angus Cloud’s death in August.
Cal, played by Eric Dane, will have a redemption arc – that we do know. In a Variety interview, when quizzed about whether the character’s comeback would happen, Eric said: “Oh, of course,” adding that he will likely have a redemption arc. “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.”
What have the cast of Euphoria said about season three?
At an LA screening of the episode “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird” for awards season voters, the show’s star and executive producer Zendaya – along with her co-stars Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer and Maude Apatow – revealed what they hope “euphoria” looks like to their characters in season three.
“I just hope for a little bit of joy and for her just be able to breathe and love without the fear of losing,” Zendaya said of Rue. “I mean she’s gonna have to go through some things, yes, but you know, we’ll get there.”
For Sydney’s Cassie, it was family: “She’s looking for a family in everyone else,” she said. “She looks for it in her friends, she looks for it in the guys,” like Nate, with whom her complex love affair is bound to continue next season. Meanwhile, Maude said she just wants Lexi to “stop attacking herself”.
Jules would still be craving a closeness, Hunter said: “I think she finds it in not the best ways a lot of the time, but I think, end of the day, it’s what she’s looking for,” she said. “[It’s] what she knows is there with Rue but there’s stuff in the way. What she knows is with her dad, but there’s stuff in the way. What she knows could be with Elliot, but he’s an addict and everything.”
It’s worth stressing these are mostly actors’ wishes for their characters, and not official plot points. We’re still pretty much in the dark!
Will Kat be in season three of Euphoria?
Barbie Ferreira (who plays the sexually-empowered Kat) has revealed she will not be returning for the next season.
“After four years of getting to embody the most special and enigmatic character Kat, I’m having to say a very teary-eyed goodbye. 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 wrote on her Instagram story in front of a drawing her co-star Hunter Schafer did of Kat in lingerie, bondage-wear and a furry cat mask, video-calling men on a cam site.
With her storyline of body positivity and sexual empowerment in season one of the HBO series, Kat quickly became a fan favourite character. Barbie’s role in the second season was drastically smaller though and what little we did get left many fans unhappy, with Kat’s destructive actions seemingly out-of-character and never explained or expanded upon. It looks like we now may never get a redemption arc.
Have they started shooting Euphoria season three yet?
Nope! Right now, we imagine Sam Levinson is working away at his desk writing those new scripts before the whole season’s production kicks off.
When is Euphoria season three due to be released?
It’s now due to air in 2025, according to HBO drama chief Francesca Orsi – but as with season two and the unexpected delays it faced caused by a pandemic, anything could happen. Feel lost? Return to Maddy’s final words to Cassie. “Don’t worry, this is just the beginning.”