Mayday: The first footage from Euphoria Season 3 has landed

What will happen in Euphoria Season 3?

Speaking at a HBO Max presentation in London on December 3, Levinson revealed a few key character details and storylines. “Five years felt like a natural place, because if they’d gone to college, they’d be out of college at that time,” he said. “We basically pick up Rue south of the border in Mexico, in debt to Laurie, trying to come up with some very innovative ways to pay it off.” Levinson continued: “And then Cassie is living in the suburbs with Nate: they’re engaged and she’s very addicted to social media and envious of what appears to be the big lives that all of her high school classmates are living at this point in time.” Jules, Levinson added, “is in art school, very nervous about having a career as a painter, and trying to avoid responsibility at all costs.” Meanwhile, Maddy is working in Hollywood at a talent agency for a manager. “She’s obviously got her own side hustles going,” Levinson said. “And Lexi is an assistant to a showrunner played by Sharon Stone, who is just absolutely delightful and a true icon.” Then, Levinson dropped probably the biggest plot point yet: “I feel strongly this is our best season yet… I will say that Cassie and Nate do, in fact, get married. I’m confirming it. And I promise that it will be an unforgettable night.”

Such a substantial gap between the seasons (Season 2 concluded in February 2022) was always going to present some major life shifts for this cast of characters. It was reported that when, in 2023, Levinson proposed his vision for the third season to executives, there was a time jump of five years. Rewrites were necessary, however, because, according to sources, Angus Cloud’s Fez “figured heavily into the initial concept for the season.” But when revised scripts were submitted in late 2023 and early 2024, executives were apparently not convinced. Per Variety, “There was a new arc for Zendaya’s Rue, whose character in Levinson’s first pass had been relegated to the background in a somewhat surprising storyline about her working as a private detective, which HBO had immediately vetoed. Among many other ideas for the rewrites, Zendaya had pitched an idea in which Rue, who is now sober as a twenty something young woman, would be a pregnancy surrogate. But insiders say the new scripts simply didn’t feel like the show tonally.” How those conflicting concepts were ultimately reconciled, we still don’t know for sure—but it was Zendaya who first confirmed the time skip last year. “I don’t quite know exactly what the season is going to look like, but I do know that the time jump is happening and I know it’s important because there’s only so much high school drama you can deal with,” she told The Awardist.

Who is joining Euphoria for its third season?

On October 17, Variety reported that a fleet of stars had joined the series, among them Trisha Paytas, Natasha Lyonne, Danielle Deadwyler, and Eli Roth. Besides Paytas, Lyonne, Deadwyler, and Roth, other new additions to Euphoria’s cast include Bella Podaras, Bill Bodner, Cailyn Rice, Colleen Camp, Gideon Adlon, Hemky Madera, Homer Gere, Jack Topalian, Jessica Blair Herman, Kwame Patterson, Madison Thompson, Matthew Willig, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Sam Trammell. As previously reported, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Toby Wallace, Sharon Stone, Rosalía, Marshawn Lynch, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Kadeem Hardison, Priscilla Delgado, James Landry Hébert, Anna Van Patten, and Asante Blackk have also joined the show for Season 3.

And who from the original cast will return?

Not everyone. Back in August 2022, Barbie Ferreira announced that she would not reprise her role as Kat in the show’s third installment. “After four years of getting to embody the most special and enigmatic character, Kat, I’m having to say a very teary-eyed goodbye,” she wrote in an Instagram Story. “I hope many of you could see yourself in her like I did, and that [it] brought you joy to see her journey into the character she is today. I put all my care and love into her and I hope you guys could feel it. Love you, Katherine Hernandez.”

Considering that her part was largely downgraded in Season 2, it wasn’t entirely a surprise. Speaking on the Armchair Expert podcast in 2023, Ferreira said: “I don’t think there was a place for [Kat] to go. I think there were places she could have gone. I just don’t think it would have fit into the show. 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. I feel like with Season 2 and certain parts of it… I felt was kind of a struggle for both parties. Sam, me… it was a struggle to find the continuation of her. So that was actually really hurtful watching it and seeing the fans get upset. I just felt like [I] overstayed my welcome a little bit? So, for me, it actually felt good to be like, Okay, I get to not worry about this and we both don’t get to worry about this, because it’s exhausting. Sam writes for things that he relates to. I don’t think he relates to Kat.”

Then, in July 2023, Angus Cloud, who played the soulful, soft-spoken Fezco, died from an accidental overdose at 25. Tributes poured in from his co-stars and fans, the latter of whom were also left to wonder about the future of Cloud’s character. Fez memorably ended Season 2 (spoiler alert) with a dramatic shoot-out with the police, during which he was wounded and then arrested. His adopted brother, Ashtray, as played by Javon Walton, appeared to die in the same scene.

News that Storm Reid, who played the younger sister to Zendaya’s Rue, was also departing the series followed in November 2024. But Euphoria’s other major players—Zendaya, Schafer, Sweeney, Elordi, Apatow, Demie, and Colman Domingo as Rue’s sponsor, Ali—will all, it seems, be back, along with Alanna Ubach (Suze), Daeg Faerch (Mitch), Melvin Bonez Estes (Bruce), Paula Marshall (Marsha), Sophia Rose Wilson (BB), Zak Steiner (Aaron), Dominic Fike (Elliot) and Nika King (Leslie).

When did production begin on Euphoria Season 3?

Production was originally set to begin in February 2023 before being increasingly delayed, and then disrupted by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. In an interview in March 2024, Sydney Sweeney said that the show would be back in production soon. Her comments quickly went viral, after which she became more cautious. “Honestly, it’s like as scary as talking about Marvel,” she joked in a later interview. “I said one thing, and it went everywhere.” She wouldn’t confirm the date when filming was set to begin, and when asked if she’d seen any Season 3 scripts, said: “Maybe. I don’t know.”

Just two days later, HBO revealed that the Season 3 shoot had been put on hold. “HBO and Sam Levinson remain committed to making an exceptional third season,” a network spokesperson told Variety. “In the interim, we are allowing our in-demand cast to pursue other opportunities.” It would be another year before outlets reported, in February 2025, that the show had finally begun filming in Los Angeles.

A series of new stills from the third season; see them below.