As we have reported before, it has been a long wait for the dramatic series EUPHORIA, from Sam Levinson to return. Back in March of this year, we stated that the long-drawn out process to get the series back in front of HBO audiences was taking far too long. Levinson felt the need to punish us with THE IDOL first Industry strikes didn’t help the matter, nor the death of Agnus McCloud.
Then Levinson made the creative decision to jump the storyline five years into the future from where we last left Rue Bennett & Company. There was buzz that some of the other creatives around the series were not as keen at first. But Zendaya could accept the need for the time jump right away. She stated, “It’s important because there’s only so much high school drama you can deal with.” She added, “I don’t actually know much about what is happening. I don’t quite know exactly what the season is going to look like, but I do know that the time jump is happening. It will be fascinating to see and understand these characters outside of the context of high school and how all the stuff that we saw when they were kids and they were in high school affects the adulthood they have and who they become in a much bigger world. I’ll be interested to see what happens too.”
A number of outlets have doubted the show can go on as planned because many actors from the series have moved on to other projects. Dark Horizons spelled out the cast’s commitments nicely. It posted – Zendaya is currently filming Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama, has [Christopher] Nolan’s film to shoot in early 2025 and Spider-Man 4 to shoot next Summer & Fall before hopping onto Dune: Messiah in early 2026. [Sydney} Sweeney is currently filming the Christy Martin biopic and has both The Housemaid and Scandalous to film next year – the latter of which castmate Colman Domingo is directing. Domingo is insanely busy in 2025 – he has to prep that film, is currently in production on rom-com series The Four Seasons, and has multiple onscreen roles including a Nat King Cole biopic (which he leads), a role in Spielberg’s new blockbuster, voice recording for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and promotional rounds for completed roles in The Electric State and Michael. Jacob Elordi is also booked solid. Having just done The Narrow Road to the Deep North mini-series and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, he’s already set to film Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights and the dimension hopping thriller Parallel.
So, where does EUPHORIA fit in all that? Well, Casey Bloys, CEO of HBO & Max Content made it clear recently that it was all still a go for the series. He stated, Nothing has 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 ahea, I know the show gets a lot of attention now because it has created some genuine movie stars, and they have various projects that they’re working on. But we are shooting this season, so nothing has changed.”
I don’t think the true fans will be satisfied until one of those pictures of a clapboard on set is dropped as proof that the production is before the cameras. They’ve already waited so long. Who is to say when EUPHORIA will actually air. But that’s a post for another day.
For now, we leave it with a positive thought from Zendaya. She just told Vanity Fair, “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. I think that’s my number one duty.”
