Euphoria

A NEW Euphoria feud has emerged as Zendaya’s “tension” with a show star has been revealed – and it’s not with Sydney Sweeney.

This comes as insiders told the Daily Mail Zendaya has a rocky relationship with the actress, who apparently flirted with her man Tom Holland on set.

But now, it seems Zendaya, 29, has clashed with another member of the Euphoria team.

Eager fans have long questioned why the new series of the show has taken so long to air – but it seems the real reasons have finally surfaced.

The creator of the HBO series, Sam Levinson, recently told fans the delay between season two and three was a result of strikes, the in-demand cast and finding the right way to pay tribute to Eric Dane and Angus Cloud.

However, a source told Vanity Fair the delay between series sparked serious tension behind the scenes, creating a rift between Sam and Zendaya.

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stamp of approval

Zendaya flashes side-boob and shows off new tattoo tribute to Tom Holland

Vanity Fair’s source claimed the once close collaborators grew apart and Zendaya was less involved with development of the third season.

While she had an executive producer credit for the first two seasons, she doesn’t have an EP credit for this new instalment.

Euphoria, set in the fictional town of East Highland, California, follows high schoolers, who struggle with the strains of love, loss, sex, and addiction.

The new series premiering today, is set five years later with the group of friends, now adults, grappling with faith, the possibility of redemption, and the problem of evil.

Another source told Vanity Fair that while actress Zendaya doesn’t have an EP credit, she has been vital the show’s development and has approved storylines.

The source said: “Zendaya had an incredibly demanding shooting schedule in 2025 and has several major projects that release this year so she was unable to commit to serving as an executive producer this season.” 

Just last week at the HBO show’s premiere Spider Man star Zendaya was seen seemingly dodging being snapped with Sam on the red carpet.

In the video posted to TikTok, Zendaya was spotted dashing off with her team after Sam asked her to pose for a picture.

The stunning star, who plays Rue Bennett on the series, looked incredible as she flashed some serious side-boob in a daring floor-length black gown.

Her dress featured extreme cut-outs down the side to expose both her back and the side of her chest.

As she made her way inside the venue to celebrate the show’s release, eagle-eyed onlookers also spied the star’s brand new tattoo tribute to her partner Tom.

Zendaya had a small “t” tattooed just above her ribcage.

EUPHORIA is back for season 3 after a four-year hiatus from HBO, and the provocative cast of characters have now left high school behind.

But fans are already dreading the end after the show’s creator and lead star hinted this could be the show’s final run. Here’s everything we know.

When will Euphoria season 3 finish?

Euphoria picks up following a time jump, years after we last saw the characters at East Highland High.

HBO said it explores “the virtue of faith, the possibility of redemption, and the problem of evil”.

The show’s creator Sam Levinson confirmed he has “no plans” for a fourth season, telling Variety that he writes “every season like it’s the last season”.

Speaking on the season 3 red carpet, he added: “I want to finish this as strong as I can.

“I’m cutting [episodes] seven and eight still.

“I’m putting some finishing touches. I just want to deliver a f***ing slam dunk season.”

And when Zendaya was asked on The Drew Barrymore Show if Season 3 would be the last one, she replied: “I think so, yeah.”

She added: “Closure is coming.”

Euphoria season 3 consists of eight episodes, released weekly every Sunday, with the finale set for May 31, 2026.

Here is the full release schedule:

• Episode 1 – April 12, 2026
• Episode 2 – April 19, 2026
• Episode 3 – April 26, 2026
• Episode 4 – May 3, 2026
• Episode 5 – May 10, 2026
• Episode 6 – May 17, 2026
• Episode 7 – May 24, 2026
• Episode 8 – May 31, 2026

Who is starring in Euphoria season 3?

The cast for season three of Euphoria includes the following:

• Zendaya as Rue Bennett
• Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn
• The late Eric Dane as Cal Jacobs
• Jacob Elordi as Nate Jacobs
• Sydney Sweeney as Cassie Howard
• Alexa Demie as Maddy Perez
• Maude Apatow as Lexi Howard
• Martha Kelly as Laurie
• Chloe Cherry as Faye

Others returning to the show include Colman Domingo, Dominic Fike,
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Toby Wallace.

How can I watch Euphoria?

Euphoria airs on HBO and is available to stream on HBO Max

It can also be purchased or rented through platforms including Apple TV and Amazon Video.

In the UK, the show is available to watch on HBO Max, Sky Atlantic and NOW.

New episodes drop at 9pm ET on Sunday in the US, and at 2am BST on Mondays in the UK.

Catch up on what happened in Euphoria Season 2 before the HBO drama makes its comeback

After a hiatus of nearly four years, here’s a recap of what unfolded during the second season of Euphoria before the new episodes arrive.

In the forthcoming third season, which premieres on HBO Max on April 13, cast members Zendaya, 29, Jacob Elordi, and Sydney Sweeney reprise the roles that cemented their status as major Hollywood players.

Time has moved on since their school days, but Rue Bennett (Zendaya) appears to be deeply embroiled in a dangerous drug and crime world. Meanwhile, Cassie Howard (Sweeney) is producing online adult content in the lead-up to her wedding with fiancé Nate Jacobs (Elordi).

The childhood friends must now grapple with the unforgiving realities of adult life.

The second season kicked off with a new school term. Following her split from Jules (Hunter Schafer), Rue suffers a devastating relapse as she battles to get back on the road to sobriety. Cassie and Nate are conducting a clandestine romance behind Maddie’s (Alexa Demie) back, while Lexi (Maude Apatow) is busy crafting her school play.

Alongside fresh faces, including Chloe Cherry as Faye, this also marked the final season featuring Barbie Ferreira as Kate, the late Angus Cloud as the beloved Fez, and his sidekick Ashtray (Javon Walton), reports the Mirror US.

Nothing would ever be the same for these characters before the school year drew to a close. Here’s what unfolded during Euphoria’s second season.

Cal

While Nate is covertly conducting an affair with Cassie, he’s still at odds with his father, Cal Jacobs (the late Eric Dane). Following a cathartic and alcohol-fuelled binge, Cal deserts his suburban existence and family. Nate exacts revenge on his father and delivers the video footage of Cal’s sexual encounter with an underage Jules to the authorities.

Cassie and Nate

Following one of her withdrawal episodes, Rue discloses to Maddie and the others that Cassie has been conducting an affair with Nate. Naturally, Nate is fixated on Cassie because she’s been styling herself like Maddie. Cassie maintains her sexually-charged relationship with Nate, even after it destroyed her friendship with Maddie.

Fez and Ashtray

During the finale, Fez is preparing to head out to his date with Lexi and attend her school play. Regrettably, a SWAT team storms his home, stopping him from departing. Tragically, the SWAT team disregards Fez’s warnings and eliminates Ashtray in a hail of gunfire. Fez is placed under arrest as he gazes at Ashtray’s lifeless body.

Rue

After achieving sobriety, Rue relapses and embarks on a perilous downward spiral, abandoning Jules. Rue encounters the merciless queenpin Laurie (Martha Kelly). After pledging substantial money in exchange, Rue ends up consuming and misplacing £10,000 worth of drugs provided by Laurie.

And somewhere along the way, Kate, who didn’t feature prominently in the second season, separates from Ethan (Austin Abrams).

The School Play

The final two episodes centre on Lexi’s school play, titled Our Life. Despite Lexi revealing intimate details, Maddie is genuinely touched by the performance, particularly since she has the finest moment. Nate recognises the play is ridiculing him through one of its characters and ends his relationship with Cassie.

Matters deteriorate further for Cassie. She suddenly shrieks, nearly destroying her sister’s play. Lexi portrayed Cassie’s sexual fantasy at a carousel. Maddie halts Cassie just in time and delivers her an overdue thrashing. Cassie’s retribution from Maddie won’t conclude there, even following her split from Nate.

Lexi’s play also affects Rue, though she understands there is no joyful conclusion for her. The second season concludes on a cliff-hanger, as Rue has no means to repay Laurie, who has vowed to abduct and traffic her.

Euphoria season 3 will be premiering on Sky Atlantic, NOW and HBO Max on April 13

When the first two seasons of HBO’s teen drama “Euphoria” aired on Sunday nights, 25-year-old actor and singer Al-akhir Fletcher remembers racing online the second each episode ended, toggling between X (then Twitter) and FaceTime just to keep up with the collective reaction.

“I felt like I had to watch because I didn’t want any spoilers,” he recalled. “I didn’t want anyone to tell me about it. There was maybe one week I tried to wait to binge-watch it, and I couldn’t. Everybody was talking about it.”

That anticipation for Season 3, premiering Sunday, still lingers for Fletcher, though it’s tempered now by doubt and distance, thanks to a four-year gap between seasons. Nevertheless, Fletcher said he’ll finish the show.

“Only because I feel like I’ve invested so much already into the show and into the characters and in their stories,” he said. “So I do want to see it through. I want to know what happens, but there is a little bit of hesitation, especially with hearing about all of the politics and the behind-the-scenes drama of what’s happened with the show.”

When Euphoria last aired in 2022, it turned Maddy Perez’s cutout dresses into a going-out uniform, transformed Cassie Howard’s unraveling into a meme with a saying that everyone understood (“I have never, ever been happier”), and sent Labrinth’s score ricocheting across TikTok in slow-motion edits and tear-streaked montages. It also made bona fide stars out of its cast: Zendaya became an Emmy winner, in-demand actor and fashion icon; similarly, Sydney Sweeney has become an onscreen mainstay, and Jacob Elordi, an Oscar nominee this year.

And, crucially, for a stretch, “Euphoria” made HBO feel like a destination again, with episodes that demanded to be seen in real time and dissected instantly before the night was over.

In the four years since its previous season, though, Hollywood has endured dual labor strikes, streamers have tightened budgets and audiences have fractured into increasingly niche viewing habits. The monoculture that once lifted “Euphoria” has thinned, if it even exists at all.

So as the show returns after an unusually long hiatus, the question isn’t just what happens next for Rue and the gang, but whether “Euphoria” can still hit the way it once did. What we do know is the series isn’t picking up where it left off. Season 3 leaps forward five years, aging its characters out of high school and into a much murkier version of adulthood. Maddy (Alexa Demie) is working for a talent agent and navigating the blurry line between managing actors, influencers and potentially sex work-adjacent clients. Cassie (Sweeney) and Nate (Elordi) are set to marry, all while Cassie is attempting to start an OnlyFans account. And then there’s Rue (Zendaya), whose story can’t outrun the looming debt she owes a drug dealer.

“Euphoria’s” Season 3 returning cast, clockwise from left: Jacob Elordi, Alexa Demie and Sydney Sweeney. (Partick Wymore / HBO) (Jeremy Colegrove / HBO) (HBO)

Can a series disappear for four years and reclaim its choke hold on the culture?

Uncertainty hangs over its return and whether more seasons could be expected. (The show’s creator, Sam Levinson, has been evasive about declaring it the final season, while Zendaya told Drew Barrymore this week she believed it was.)

Interviews with fans and media experts suggest there’s no consensus on whether viewers will flock back like before. Some see “Euphoria” as too big to fail, a brand with enough residual heat to dominate conversation on arrival. Others aren’t so sure, pointing to the long hiatus, the off-screen turmoil and a television landscape that no longer moves in lockstep.

What made the show a breakout hit

Part of what makes questions around the show so difficult to answer is how singular “Euphoria” felt when it first arrived in 2019. At the time, HBO wasn’t in the business of teen dramas. The network had long built its identity on adult prestige — crime sagas, antiheroes and sprawling family epics — not stories centered on high schoolers. “Euphoria” marked a strategic shift, one that aimed to pull in younger viewers without diluting the network’s edge.

“I think this was supposed to be their first foray into quote-unquote young adult programming,” said Michel Ghanem, who writes about television. “They were interested in capturing a younger viewership who maybe hadn’t watched that much HBO up until then.”

What emerged didn’t resemble the traditional teen drama playbook. “Euphoria” was moodier and leaned into storylines rooted in addiction, sex and emotional volatility. HBO began experimenting more broadly with shows like “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and “Generation,” but “Euphoria” stood apart in both tone and ambition. The risk paid off.

“It grabbed on to an audience that loved the cast and the performances and the soundtrack and the cinematography,” Ghanem said. “So I think all of those elements together sort of made it into appointment television.”

Hunter Schafer, left, and Zendaya in Season 1 of “Euphoria.” The show premiered in 2019, becoming a hit for HBO.

(Eddy Chen / HBO)

Beneath the glitter and surreal visuals, some viewers saw versions of people and situations they already knew.

“I found a lot of familiarity in it because of being from L.A.,” said Darryl McCrary, a creative artist who is based here. “I felt like I knew the teenagers. I knew the secret drug addict and the out drug addict and the drug dealers. It felt very familiar. It felt like home in a way.”

Aspiring actor and “Euphoria” fan Cheyenne Washington, who grew up in a small town in Connecticut, also recognized the characters. “I went to high school with people like this. My high school isn’t like how it is on Disney Channel. My high school was ‘Euphoria.’”

By its second season, “Euphoria” had become one of HBO’s most-watched series, with episodes drawing millions of viewers. The Season 2 finale pulled in more than 6 million viewers across platforms, cementing the show as a crossover hit.

“That was the show that my students were talking about,” said Jason Mittell, professor of film and media culture at Middlebury College. “‘Euphoria’ is the buzz show amongst younger people, amongst people who were sort of hyper-online, amongst critics; it was something that was really talked about. That’s the thing that sort of raises it up.”

Why production stalled

While the dual Hollywood strikes were one factor in the delay in production, “Euphoria” was also affected by the sudden deaths of actor Angus Cloud, who played Fezco, and executive producer Kevin Turen, who was considered a key force in the show. There were reports of creative tension between Zendaya and Levinson. At the same time, its young cast had transformed into a roster of in-demand movie stars, with schedules and expectations that look very different from when the show began.

“This new season has to kind of do something new and really break new ground to gain the buzz,” Mittell said. “There is a scenario, depending on how they market it, that it actually could get pretty good viewership. But I think that it’s also just ripe for disappointment. Can you just imagine all the takes that are being written right now? Like, ‘Why “Euphoria” shouldn’t have come back.’ There’s so many people eager to write that.”

And yet, the show’s scale and the fame of the people in it may insulate it from outright failure. “Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney — these are some of the biggest actors on the planet now,” Ghanem said. “Even if the show ends up being a creative flop, I think we’re all going to tune in because we want to see those actors together again and see what storyline Sam Levinson will come up with. There’s no possible world where this third season isn’t a massive hit. There’s just no way.”

Angus Cloud, who played Fezco in “Euphoria,” died in 2023 after an overdose. (Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)

“Euphoria” executive producer Kevin Turen also died in 2023. (Jack Plunkett / Invision / Associated Press)

What has shifted more dramatically is how the show and its creator are perceived, experts and fans said. Since “Euphoria” first aired in 2019, Levinson’s profile has evolved, particularly following the backlash to his HBO series “The Idol,” which was widely panned by critics and plagued by reports of behind-the-scenes turmoil. That scrutiny has extended back to “Euphoria,” with renewed criticism around its portrayal of sex, nudity and teenage characters.

“Since 2019, when the first season aired, there have been a lot of conversations around what Gen Z really wants to see on screen,” Ghanem said. “The show’s reputation isn’t unscathed. And I think people are more critical of Sam Levinson’s work.”

That shift may be especially pronounced among younger viewers, who may have been turned off by “The Idol’s” gratuitousness.

“We’ve had all of these recent studies about younger people who don’t necessarily want to see sexually explicit material anymore,” said Brandy Monk-Payton, assistant professor at Fordham University. “They want to see more development of platonic relationships and asexual connections.”

Can a time gap still lead to success?

Long breaks aren’t unheard of on TV, but they’re rarely this long for a show that’s still trying to hold on to cultural urgency. And history suggests that returning is one thing, but recapturing the same intensity of viewership and fandom is another.

Several recent dramas have tested that gap. “Stranger Things” stretched years between seasons as its young cast aged into adulthood, returning to massive viewership, but, some critics and fans argued, with an ending that felt obligatory.

“They weren’t reckless enough with their characters,” McCrary said.

“The Handmaid’s Tale,” once a defining show of the late 2010s, continued after extended pauses but struggled to maintain the cultural grip it once held.

“I think because of the social and political climate of that show, the interest in it waned,” Monk-Payton said. “We didn’t want to be in the world of Gilead anymore. So do fans want to reenter the world that is ‘Euphoria,’ that sensational world of drug addiction and sex and violence?”

Even “Severance,” which earned critical acclaim and awards recognition after its long-awaited second season, sparked debate among viewers about whether it matched the precision and novelty of its first. The pattern, experts say, is less about whether the audience comes back and more about what they come back expecting.

For Monk-Payton, that expectation functions almost like an unwritten agreement between a show and its viewers.

“It has to retain its contract with the audience,” she said, pointing to the balance between continuity and change. “There has to be some kind of familiarity in the characters and relationships, but also growth — something new that justifies coming back.”

That balance, she argues, is where many returning shows falter. Monk-Payton said in the case of “Severance,” what began as a sharply observed workplace sci-fi story expanded into denser mythology in its second season. Though Apple TV announced that “Severance” had become its No. 1 series, she said the show’s evolution didn’t land the same way for all viewers.

“When shows come back after a gap, they can misread what audiences connected to in the first place,” she said.

The risk for “Euphoria” is similar. If its return leans too far away from the emotional core that defined it, or reshapes its characters beyond recognition, it could strain the connection.

“If we don’t recognize Rue or the others in some fundamental way, that’s risky,” Monk-Payton said. “Some viewers will keep watching to see how it ends because they’re completionists. But others may feel that disconnect.”