In a nutshell:
Sam Levinson’s hallucinatory high school drama was renewed for a third season way back in 2022 – and now, it’s finally heading back to screens.
Is there a trailer for Euphoria season 3?
Not yet, though HBO has revealed 13 seconds of footage as part of a wider preview of shows to look forward to in 2026. In it, we can see Zendaya’s Rue dancing with reckless abandon, Maude Apatow’s Lexi all dressed up, seemingly for a wedding, Alexa Demie’s Maddy looking as glamorous as ever, Jacob Elordi’s Nate getting all pumped up, Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie in cutesy bunny ears and Hunter Schafer’s Jules zoning out.
Will the cast of Euphoria season 2 return for season 3?
Well, not everyone will – back in August 2022, Barbie Ferreira announced that she wouldn’t be returning to reprise the role of Kat for the show’s third instalment. “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 alongside a photo of fan art by her “angel” co-star Hunter Schafer. “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 from main character to supporting act in season two, 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 two 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 maybe it’s 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, softly spoken Fezco, died from an accidental overdose aged 25. Tributes poured in from his co-stars, and now, more than two years on, questions remain about the future of his plot line – Fez memorably ended season two (spoiler alert) with a dramatic shoot out with the police, in which he was wounded and then arrested. His adopted brother Ashtray, as played by Javon Walton, appeared to perish in the same scene.
Yet another key cast member who won’t be returning? Storm Reid, who played Zendaya’s sister, Gia Bennett, across the first two seasons, and explained that she had to exit due to scheduling issues. “I’m so excited to watch it – I can’t wait,” she told TMZ. “I’m forever indebted to the show.” Also missing will be Austin Abrams, who played Kat’s boyfriend, Ethan, and Algee Smith, as Chris, Cassie’s ex-boyfriend.
Aside from these notable omissions, however, Euphoria’s other major players – Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi, Maude Apatow, Alexa Demie and Colman Domingo – will all be back. So too will Eric Dane, Martha Kelly, Chloe Cherry, Alanna Ubach, Daeg Faerch, Dominic Fike, Melvin Bonez Estes, Nika King, Paula Marshall, Sophia Rose Wilson and Zak Steiner.
Who will be joining the cast for Euphoria season 3?
Per Deadline, there will be a whole host of new faces: none other than Sharon Stone, Grammy-winning superstar Rosalía, Super Bowl champion Marshawn Lynch, Danielle Deadwyler, Natasha Lyonne, Eli Roth, Kadeem Hardison, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Toby Wallace, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Priscilla Delgado, James Landry Hébert, Anna Van Patten, Asante Blackk, 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, Sam Trammell and Trisha Paytas.
When did production begin on Euphoria season 3?
Production was set to begin in February 2023, before being progressively 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 was more cautious when it came to speaking about the series. “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 three scripts, said: “Maybe. I don’t know.”
Just two days later, HBO revealed that the season three 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.” The scripts for the forthcoming instalment were reportedly still being written, cast members weren’t released from their contracts, and the intention, by all accounts, still seemed to be to get the show back on screens as soon as possible.
Then, on 12 July, HBO finally shared an update: filming for season three was scheduled to kick off in January 2025. On 12 November, HBO boss Casey Bloys confirmed that this was still the case. “We are shooting Euphoria,” he told reporters at a press event. “I think we have a start date, mid to late January. Nothing’s changed. Somebody said something online, and then this whole thing started. We are shooting the season. I have read the scripts. We’re happy. We’re moving ahead. All of the actors are in the show. It’s eight episodes.” On 10 February 2025, it was confirmed that production was indeed underway in LA.
What will happen in Euphoria season 3?
So, what can we expect? Firstly, there is, of course, the matter of addressing the substantial gap between the seasons (season two concluded in February 2022). It was reported that when Levinson proposed his vision for the third season to executives in the winter of 2023, it featured a time jump of five years. Rewrites were necessary as, according to sources, Angus Cloud’s Fez “figured heavily into the initial concept for the season”.
However, 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 twentysomething young woman, would be a pregnancy surrogate. But insiders say the new scripts simply didn’t feel like the show tonally.”
Now, Levinson has confirmed there will be a five-year time jump, but in terms of the plot, they’ve gone in a different direction. The new season, he told The Hollywood Reporter, is about “being out of the safety net of school and trying to figure out who you are in the world and what matters to you. The stakes are a bit higher than they were in the past because the consequences are real and no one’s gonna swoop in and save you. Five years felt like a natural place [to jump] because if they had gone to college they’d be out of college at that time.”
Per the publication, “When Zendaya returns as Rue, the starring addict has found herself south of the border in Mexico in debt to drug dealer Laurie, played by Martha Kelly, trying to come up with some very innovative ways to pay it off.”
As for Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie and Jacob Elordi’s Nate? “Cassie is living in the suburbs with Nate,” said Levinson. “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.” Their wedding “will be an unforgettable night”.
Then there’s Hunter Schafer’s Jules, who is in art school and “very nervous about having a career as a painter and trying to avoid responsibility at all costs”; Alexa Demie’s Maddie, who is working at a Hollywood talent agency for a manager while having “her own side hustles”; and Maude Apatow’s Lexi, who is working as an assistant to a showrunner, played by Sharon Stone.
When will Euphoria season 3 be released?
Euphoria season three will be released in April 2026, with an exact date to be confirmed in due course.
Will Euphoria season 3 be the final season?
Quite possibly. “We’ve talked about it – I don’t think anything is over until it’s over, but it’s been discussed that this is the end,” HBO’s head of drama, Francesca Orsi, told Deadline in February, ahead of her first set visit. “I think you will be very satisfied with this season, and how we bring each of the characters’ whole narrative.”