Euphoria star Hunter Schafer is the latest addition to David Lowery's upcoming pop music epic Mother Mary, per Deadline. The actress joins Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway and Emmy Award winner Michaela Coel in Lowery's third outing for A24. The director was previously at the helm for A Ghost Story and the critically acclaimed The Green Knight for the famous production company. Lowery most recently worked on Peter Pan & Wendy, which debuted on Disney+ last month. Schafer is best known for portraying Jules Vaughn on HBO's Emmy Award-winning series Euphoria (also an A24 production).
Mother Mary is described as a "pop music epic" that follows the relationship between a fictional musician (Hathaway) and an iconic fashion designer (Coel). According to Deadline, Schafer has been cast as Hilda, the assistant to Coel's character. Shooting will take place in Germany. Lowery, Toby Halbrooks and James M. Johnston will produce with Jeanie Igoe of Homebird Productions and Jonas Katzenstein, Maximilian Leo and Jonathan Saubach of augenschein Filmproduktion. Mother Mary will include original music written and produced for the movie by Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff, and an original score by Daniel Hart.
Schafer will star in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The film, which also stars Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Josh Andrés Rivera, Jason Schwartzman, and Viola Davis, is set for release Nov. 17. Schafer is also set to lead the horror thriller Cuckoo, opposite Dan Stevens and Jessica Henwick, and appear in And, an anthology film from director Yorgos Lanthimos, with Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau ,Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, and Margaret Qualley.
Hunter Schafer and Euphoria
Since 2019, Schafer has portrayed Jules Vaughn, a love interest to Zendaya's Rue, on Euphoria. Aside from starring in the series, Schafer co-wrote the episode F**k Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob, alongside series creator Sam Levinson, and served as co-executive producer. The actress is expected to return for the anticipated third season. In late 2022, Schafer spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about what Jules' future could look like when the series returns:
“Each of these characters have their own vice in a way, and I think the product of Jules’ vice that she’s looking for is closeness with other people and feeling affirmed in that closeness without any judgment or real connection and safety in that connection,” she 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 — 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.”
Euphoria was renewed for a third season in 2022 which is expected to air in 2024. The recent WGA strike could impact that date as producer Jeremy O. Harris recently said that Levinson was not likely to cross picket lines and called on Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to make a deal to ensure scheduled production of the series.