Is ‘Euphoria’ season three doomed to fail?
When Euphoria debuted in 2019, it was quickly lapped up by viewers, becoming one of HBO’s most popular shows, which was rare for something so teen-oriented.
That’s the thing with Euphoria – it might follow some rather dysfunctional teenagers, but the themes are anything but infantile. Transgender character Jules sleeps with an older man who turns out to be the dad of one of the school’s most popular jocks, protagonist Rue is addicted to drugs, Barbie Ferrera’s Kat becomes a camgirl when she’s not busy studying, while Cassie winds up pregnant and in need of an abortion.
These are all pretty hefty topics for teens to watch – let alone for the high-school characters to experience – but this is exactly why young fans have eaten it right up. Despite the heartaches and dilemmas these characters endure, Euphoria presents a highly stylised look at their lives – the girls’ eyes adorned in bright colours and gems, and their outfits are Instagrammable.
It’s no surprise that Euphoria became so popular, considering the success of Skins in the 2000s, a British version of scandalous teen exploits that Euphoria is clearly indebted to. Euphoria has a lot more gratuitous nudity and far-fetched plotlines, however, and it’s the spectacle of the HBO show that has kept it in production.
Season three is finally getting closer to arriving on our screens, which comes almost four years on from the previous instalment of episodes. In fact, Levinson has just shared key details about the plotlines featured in the new season, which involves a five-year time-jump, the characters now post-college, and for Cassie and Nate, a wedding is even looming on the horizon.
Not only did the writer’s strike slow down production, as well as the fact that the actors are incredibly busy these days (Jacob Elordi in particular), but another reason for the show taking so long to resurface is down to the fact that it has undergone endless rewrites.
It appears that Levinson has struggled to come up with some good ideas, with HBO reportedly turning down many of his pitches. According to Variety, he floated some strange ideas, including Rue becoming a surrogate, while another saw her assuming the role of a private detective. With these ideas shot down, he’s had to keep going back to the drawing board.
Is it time that Levinson steps away from the show and works on something else? Well, Levinson did try something new when he worked on The Idol back in 2023, but it was widely panned by critics and failed to win over audiences. The nepo-baby showrunner has constantly come under fire for various creative decisions throughout the years, with the topic of teenage sexualisation in Euphoria one of the most valid criticisms. To see the way that women are depicted in The Idol only confirmed that he doesn’t have his female characters’ best interests at heart.
Since The Idol proved that Levinson isn’t all he’s cracked up to be, it seems likely that Euphoria will have to be carried by its cast once again, although some major characters will be notably absent, while another is currently one of the most detested celebrities of the moment.
Ferrara announced her departure from the show a few years back, while Storm Reid, who played Gia, the sister of Zendaya’s Rue, will also be moving on to different projects. Sadly, we won’t see any more of Fezco either, following Angus Cloud’s tragic passing in 2023.
Then there’s the whole Sydney Sweeney issue. The actor was never the strongest part of Euphoria, but now her middling acting talents are really coming to light with a string of box office flops under her belt and a scandal to top it all off. Starring in an American Eagle advert about her good “jeans”, a pun on her good “genes”, she refused to respond properly when people suggested that she was promoting eugenics. Things only got worse when Donald Trump praised her online, calling her advert “fantastic” and celebrating the fact that she is a registered Republican.
With rumours swirling around that Zendaya won’t do press alongside Sweeney now, it feels like the release of Euphoria season three is likely going to be doomed. It’s been so long since season two, and with Levinson teasing new plotlines that will certainly piss off fans, paired with his recent failures, the absence of beloved characters, and the hate train that has chugged through Sweeney’s 2025, it’ll be a surprise if season three isn’t met with criticism in some form or another.
A lot has changed since season two outside of the show, and you can’t help but feel like Levinson should take all these production delays and backlash as a sign to stop what he’s doing and call it a day. Only time will tell, of course, and we’ll be left to decide whether season three was worth the wait in April 2026.
