Rue… when did all these Euphoria season 3 updates happen and how did we miss them?
It’s been 1,158 days since the release of the last Euphoria episode, with a rather… shall we say, *chaotic* ending, which has left viewers with more than a couple of unanswered questions. Will sisters Cassie, played by Sydney Sweeney, and Lexi, played by Maude Apatow, be able to make up after the latter’s scandalous exposé of a school play? How will Fezco, played by the late Angus Cloud, and Ashtray’s, played by Javon Walton, storyline evolve post-fatal shootout scene? Is Maddy, played by Alexa Demie, willing to forgive her former bestie Cassie for getting together with her ex? Where does Nate Jacobs, played by Jacob Elordi, fall into all of this? And that’s without even touching on Zendaya’s character Rue, her battle with sobriety, her complex familial and romantic relationships, nor that infamous suitcase given to her by Laurie, the newly-introduced drug lord portrayed by Martha Kelly.
If the plot transition from season 1 to season 2 is anything to go off, it seems as though viewers may not see their questions satiated. Afterall, the HBO show’s creator Sam Levinson loves to leave a plotline unfulfilled. Whatever happened to Nate Jacobs’ alleged queer sexuality, after Maddy found explicit photos on his phone during the first season? Or Kat’s internet camming hobby? Or the identity behind the third child in the Jacobs’ family portraits which were seen hung up in their home?
If one thing is for sure, it’s that season 3 of the teen drama series will be drastically different to its predecessors, for one, due to cast changes. Most notably, a fan-favourite who will be dearly missed is Fezco, the local friendly dealer who also had a romantic storyline with Lexi during the second season. After actor Angus Cloud’s untimely passing in the summer of 2023, fans went as far as to plead with Levinson and HBO to cancel the show, out of respect for Cloud and his family.
Another member of the main cast who will not be returning for round three is Barbie Ferreira, who portrayed the character of Kat. While season 1 saw the teenager explore her sexuality and deal with themes such as the pressures of being the poster girl of body positivity, season 2 felt like a letdown, where Kat’s character arc was pushed to the side amid rumoured internal conflict. Ferreira has since gone on the Armchair Expert podcast to state “I don’t think there was a place for [Kat] to go.” She went on to say “I don’t know if it was going to do her justice, and I think both parties knew that. I really wanted to be able to not be the fat best friend. I don’t want to play that, and I think they didn’t want that either.”
Suffering with two major character losses isn’t the only challenge this upcoming season of Euphoria will have to face. Storm Reid, who plays Rue’s little sister Gia, and Nika King, who plays Rue’s mother Leslie, have both called it quits with the show. Austin Abrams, who plays Ethan, Algee Smith, who plays McKay, and Javon Walton are all reported not to return for season 3.
So who is returning for the third instalment of Euphoria? Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Sydney Sweeney, Alexa Demie, Jacob Elordi, Colman Domingo, Eric Dane, Chloe Cherry, Maude Apatow, Martha Kelly, and Dominic Fike have all been confirmed so far.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom for Euphoria fans, as the cast list has also seen some pretty exciting names added to its on-screen roster. Perhaps the biggest headline of the season, the MOTOMAMI singer-songwriter herself, Rosalía, has signed on. Though details of her characters have been kept well under wraps, fans online are speculating (or perhaps, wishing) she will become Maddy’s new BFF. Other cast additions include Sharon Stone as an undisclosed character and Asante Blackk as Kidd, among others.
While viewers of the show have been digesting news of delayed production times, either due to Levinson’s lack of finalised scripts or Zendaya’s scheduling conflicts – mind you, since Euphoria season 2’s release, the actor has starred in released projects Dune: Part 2 and Challengers – January of this year marked a stark turn in the show’s future, as production for season 3 officially kicked off. And if the online virality of BTS footage of the filming process is anything to go off of, the hype momentum picked up right where it left off, despite the 2 and a half year wait time. After all, Euphoria remains HBO’s second-most watched show (behind Game of Thrones) and the most Tweeted-about show of all time.
So what’s actually going to happen in season 3?
Out of all the rumours circulating on the direction of the upcoming instalment, Zendaya confirmed on the Awardist podcast that Levinson has introduced a 5 year time jump. This was a decision we imagine was agreed upon for the on-screen characters to match their real age – Zendaya, for example, who is now 28 years old at the time of filming season 3, was 22 years old during season 1, portraying a 17-year-old – as well as a way to make sense of the dwindling original cast.
This means that some of our on-screen ensemble may be enrolled in university or hold jobs, drastically changing their relationships and interactions, as well as the entire premise of the teen drama. In fact, some of the characters may be as far in life as to get married, after a BTS photo of Sydney Sweeney in a wedding dress surfaced on Twitter. Whether this is part of a dream sequence, fantasy roleplay, or Cassie’s actual wedding remains to be seen.
Additionally, it looks like the release of season 3 may be a bitter-sweet moment for fans and online discourse partakers alike, as HBO’s Head of Drama Francesca Orsi told Deadline that she and the crew behind Euphoria have “talked about it” and she doesn’t “think anything is over until it’s over, but it’s been discussed that this is the end.” She went on to reassure fans that if season 3 is the final instalment we’ll see, “I think you will be very satisfied with this season, and how we bring each of the characters’ whole narrative.”
And when will this supposed-ending come to our screens? As far as we know, it is likely that we’ll have to wait until early 2026 for the eight-episode series to return, four years after the run of season 2.
