Sam Levinson’s Euphoria has become a cultural phenomenon since its debut in June 2019. Most of the main cast became stars almost overnight, barring Zendaya, who was already a supernova in her own right. The show has been nominated for multiple Emmys and won quite a few as well. Zendaya created history with not one, but two Primetime Emmy wins for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Euphoria. And you cannot step into any corner of the internet without stumbling upon a Euphoria meme.
Euphoria has officially been renewed by HBO for a season 3, which makes sense given it is the second most watched show in HBO history, right after Game of Thrones. We may not have a release date yet, but here’s everything else we do know about the upcoming season.
Euphoria Season 3: The Plot
Let’s do a little recap on how season 2 ended: Lexi’s play may have proven that she is some kind of an artistic prodigy, but it has also wrecked lives. At least Ethan has discovered his theatrical talents, thanks to that play. Cassie and Maddy had a showdown where there was blood and bruised egos galore. Faye is everyone’s new favourite character. Elliot is probably still serenading his guitar. Rue may be sober, but along with drugs, she seems to have given up on her emotional crutch, Jules.
Nate was caught trying to move past his Oedipal issues by turning over his father, Cal, to the cops, along with all the evidence of Cal’s sexual exploits with minors. Fezco could not make it to his meet-cute with Lexie, but he has bigger issues to deal with – like facing prison time and Ashtray’s death. And lastly, Kat has a brain injury or something (we kid, we kid). Kat broke up with Ethan, but she didn’t have much of a story arc last season.
The biggest cliffhanger that season 3 needs to deal with is Ashtray’s death and Fezco’s impending time in prison. Since we don’t know for sure that Ashtray is dead, we will have to consider it to be a Schrodinger’s death situation, where Ash is both dead and alive till season 3 comes along. We also have to wait and watch if they fast-forward to Fezco already in prison or somehow on the run. Or will we get a courtroom drama subplot for his storyline?
Zendaya had revealed in an interview how she would like season 3 to explore the characters' journeys out of high school and into college. Maybe that will be a way to write off Kat’s character next season because Barbie Ferreira is not returning after all the rumoured drama between her and Levinson. Zendaya told Hollywood Reporter:
"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.What was special about this [past] season was that we got to dive into [the other characters] in a much deeper sense. 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."
However, one character who won’t be getting any more deep dives is Kat. Allegedly, Ferreira was unhappy with her character Kat developing an eating disorder because of body image issues and logged heads over it with Levinson. Ferreira denied the authenticity of any of the rumours surrounding her character’s shrunken storyline in somewhat vague terms. But with her gone, Euphoria will definitely be losing an interesting perspective.
Kat was perhaps a little more relatable than the rest of her gang. The fact that she was the only plus-size character on the show was only a fraction of what was interesting about her, but it didn’t hurt to have a little body diversity in the cast. A teenager who fervently writes erotica on the downlow while exploring the darkest side of her sexuality as she grapples with notions of desirability and bodily autonomy is plenty fascinating on its own.
Euphoria Season 3: The Cast
Most of the existing cast is supposed to return, with the noted exception of Barbie Ferreira, who played the character of Katherine "Kat" Hernandez. Even though an official cast lineup hasn’t been announced, Zendaya (Rue), Hunter Schafer (Jules), Maude Apatow (Lexi), Angus Cloud (Fezco), Alexa Demie (Maddy), Sydney Sweeney (Cassie), Jacob Elordi (Nate), Eric Dane (Cal), Storm Reid (Gia), Nika King (Leslie), Austin Abrams (Ethan), and Dominic Fike (Elliot) are all slated to return.
Colman Domingo, who recently won the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series Emmy, is also supposed to return. But with Rue now on her sobriety journey, we have to see how Domingo’s character Ali, who was Rue’s sponsor, fits into the storyline. We have yet to find out if Javon “Wanna” Walton (Ashtray) returns, and even if he does, will they be in flashbacks or him alive and thriving in juvie somewhere? Algee Smith’s (McKay) return is also a little dicey, given he was barely there last season.
There’s also a rumour that Nope star Keke Palmer might have a guest appearance on the show’s third season.
Release Date
There are no trailers or promotional shots available for the upcoming season yet. If the previous seasons are to go by, we will not get a trailer till a month before the premiere date. Though some fans have speculated the third season might be out in 2023, there is a good chance it might not come out until 2024. Euphoria seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on HBO Max.