Despite the news that it was renewed for a third season in February 2024, fans are wondering if Euphoria was canceled because of the latest news out of MAX. The show is based on an Israeli TV series of the same name that ran from 2012 to 2013 and premiered in June 2019 but has weathered several setbacks over the years.
The series, which is executive produced by Drake, stars Zendaya as Rue Bennett and tells the story of a recovering teenage drug addict who’s struggling to find her place in the world. The first season follows Rue as she finds a friend in Jules Vaughn, a new student at her high school.
As mentioned, there have been several setbacks to production. Filming for season two was delayed significantly due to the pandemic, with filming pushed back to 2021. “We were supposed to go back to work, I believe, on March 16,” Zendaya told Variety in June 2020. “And, literally, three or four days before that, they were shut down. I was like, ‘I was so close.’ We did camera tests and hair and makeup tests, and we got to see everybody and we had the sets built.”
Euphoria season 3 was slated for a 2025 release, having been delayed once more due to the writer’s strike. Then, Angus Cloud, one of the show’s star actors, died suddenly at age 25 and questions of whether the show would be able to continue without him began to swirl. Now, there’s more bad news for the show. Here’s if Euphoria was canceled.
Was Euphoria canceled?
Was Euphoria canceled? As of March 25, 2024, no, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t speculating about its demise. “HBO and Sam Levinson remain committed to making an exceptional third season,” an HBO spokesperson told Variety. “In the interim, we are allowing our in-demand cast to pursue other opportunities.” Scripts for season three are still being written, apparently.
One of the biggest obstacles to making a show about high school kids is that the actors are, like humans tend to do, getting older. Star Jacob Elordi has even joked about how old he’d be for the show’s third season, suggesting they’d need to “Benjamin Button” him to make him look younger.
“I hope [season 3 comes] soon, or they’re going to have to Benjamin Button me or something,” he joked during an appearance on The Tonight Show. “I’m going to have a bad back walking down the hallway, you know?” He added: “I’m assuming that we’ll have to go forward, otherwise it’s going to seem like a weird bit.”
Following Cloud’s tragic death, many Euphoria fans called for the show to be scrapped because there was no point in it continuing without Cloud, such was the impact of his presence on-screen. “i don’t wanna euphoria 3 anymore,” commented one underneath HBO’s Instagram post commemorating Cloud’s death. “please don’t bring back euphoria there’s no point anymore,” another wrote. “Can’t imagine the show without fexi,” another commented, referencing Cloud’s character Fez and his love interest, Lexi (Maude Apatow).
Previously, HBO Drama Chief Francesca Orsi explained to Deadline on May 26, 2023, that significant delays were impacting the return of one of the network’s tentpole titles. “Euphoria is one of those that we had begun writing in tandem with post-production on Idol but at this point, we don’t have countless scripts,” Orsi said. “We can’t start shooting, so the delivery of that show — ideally in 2025 — will be determined on when we can pick back up with Sam, who at this point is all pencils down and just finishing posts on Idol.”
A month prior, the show’s costume designed Heidi Bivens told The Run-Through With Vogue podcast that Euphoria, “starts shooting in June, so prep in May, so very, very soon… in Los Angeles,” she said, however, that was before the writer’s strike began on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
HBO announced it had renewed Euphoria for a third season in February 2022, as the second season premiere had been the most-viewed episode of a series ever (before it was overtaken by The Last of Us in 2023). “Sam, Zendaya, and the entire cast and crew of Euphoria have taken Season 2 to extraordinary heights, challenging narrative convention and form, while maintaining its heart. We couldn’t be more honored to work with this gifted, wildly talented team or more excited to continue our journey with them into Season 3,” Orsi said in a press release at the time.
