We never thought it would happen, did we? Back in early 2022, as we were still crawling out of the pandemic, HBO and Sam Levinson brought us back to East Highland High School to spend time with its profoundly fucked-up teenagers of Euphoria; their salacious lives playing out over eight great episodes.
As we left it, Zendaya’s Rue had gone clean, Hunter Schafer’s Jules had told Rue she loved her; Alexa Demie’s Maddy and Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie had bonded over being wronged by the sorta evil jock Nate, played by Jacob Elordi, who’d just told the police that his dad was a pedophile, leading to his arrest. Lots of shit happened. Doors were opened and closed. And then, for three whole years, we heard almost nothing.
That was until this week, when news broke that the cast had come together again to shoot the show’s third season in Los Angeles. It had been the subject of “will-they-won’t-they” hearsay since season two wrapped. And rightfully so: Euphoria’s debut had edified the careers of every one of its stars, its cast list now reading like a who’s who of young Hollywood’s most in demand and bankable talents. Some fans even felt that three years later, the show’s stars had all outgrown it.
“Perhaps there’s a goodwill the cast are showing towards the show that made them”
Then came the controversies: an exclusive exposé from The Daily Beast stated that the show involved “gruelingly long workdays that could stretch anywhere from 15 to 17 hours” (though star Colman Domingo hit back at that claim, telling The Hollywood Reporter that he’d “never had one problem”). Then came the nude scene controversy, with several actors asking Levinson to tone down the nudity in his scripts. (In the reported cases from actors, he obliged; Sydney Sweeney told The Independent that “I’ve never felt like Sam has pushed it on me.”) Don’t even get us started on The Idol, a show so controversial that it felt like it might have put the nail in Levinson’s showrunner coffin.
Yet the news of Euphoria’s return causes enough of a stir to suggest that, come 2026, when HBO plans to air the new season, even the naysayers are likely to be sat. The beauty of Euphoria’s reputation is that it’s so dangerous that it attracts fans and haters in equal measure. Messy, sometimes plotless, emotionally exuberant, accused of favouring style over substance, it’s never the one thing television can’t get away with: boring. The Idol (I’m a fan but even I’ll admit it was a mess by the finale) was considered terrible but everyone talked about it. You could put its non-renewal down to the fact season one was a budgetary nightmare—remember they reshot it all?—and that there simply wasn’t a story worth telling over another six episodes.
So why, beyond contracts, might everyone be returning? Could it be that there’s something alluring about the idea of this spectacular joint power? Think of the red carpets in 2026! Zendaya! Elordi! Sweeney! Schafer! Demie, wherever she’s been! Perhaps there’s a goodwill they’re showing towards the show that made them. Dropping out before your time has done hasn’t served many stars well—can you remember the male lead of Bridgerton season one? Or maybe, just maybe, the scripts for Euphoria season three, rumoured to be set five years after we last met these characters, offer up enough tantalizing material to get everyone back in the awards race in a year’s time. Euphoria, whether you like it or not, is hot property. No amount of controversy or feigned disinterest is enough to cancel that out.
