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Welcome back to Euphoria watch, where we don’t watch Euphoria—because there hasn’t been any new Euphoria to watch in three years—but we do watch to see if there will ever be new Euphoria to watch again. Unbelievably, the answer is apparently yes. The number of times HBO insisted that the show really was coming back, no, really, seemed a bit “the lady doth protest too much.” Plus, the show’s stars have really busy schedules and didn’t appear to be waiting around for Sam Levinson to get his shit together. In truth, this writer didn’t think we’d ever see this day come, and yet it is here: A24 confirmed on Monday that “Euphoria season 3 is in production.”
This news came with a presumably new photo of Zendaya as Rue (below), presumably from the set of the third season. However, the darkened frame looks like just about any other shot from any other season of Euphoria, so it’s not the most convincing image in terms of proof of life. Since the second season aired, the word has been that the next installment will feature a time jump that takes the characters out of Euphoria High. In this still, Rue looks more or less like she always does, so there’s no indication of any big difference or change in her character.
Photo: A24/X
Frankly it’s a miracle they got Zendaya back at all, what with rumors that she and Sam Levinson have fallen out behind the scenes. Plus, she obviously has other things to do. She’s filming a Christopher Nolan movie this year! But the star and producer of HBO’s hit teen drama, who won multiple Emmys for the role, continues to feel a responsibility of stewardship for Euphoria. “My most important thing is to do justice by the people who love and care about Rue, and make sure that she’s looked after as a character,” she said in November. “I think that’s my number one duty.”
You can’t blame us for being skeptical about this whole thing. Not only did it take three years for the show to get back into production (that’s longer than Severance, even!), they didn’t even return when they said they would. We were told the show would start shooting in January, so you’ll note that this “production has officially begun” announcement is a bit late. Sam Levinson shows also take notoriously long to shoot and have on occasion required extensive reshoots or prompted behind-the-scenes battles. So while the journey may have begun, it ain’t really over until the third season premiere—if and when that day finally arrives. And thus our Euphoria Watch continues.
