Has 'Euphoria' Been Canceled?Everything We Know So Far About the Status of Season 3

Filming has yet to begin.

Author:
Kai Green
Updated:
Mar 25, 2024

Euphoria fans have a long ways to go before they're watching Season 3 of their favorite show. Although a report from World of Reel suggested that the show had been canceled, sending viewers into a panic, HBO confirmed on March 25, 2024 that the network and creator Sam Levinson "remain committed to making an exceptional third season."

However, because Levinson is still working on scripts for the upcoming season, Deadline reports that the in-demand cast, including Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi, Colman Domingo and Storm Reid, have indeed been given the go-ahead to take other acting jobs in the meantime. Filming, which was expected to begin within the next couple of months, is therefore on hold—and likely for a while.

Domingo, who plays Rue's sponsor, Ali, on the show, recently told GQ that Levinson is reworking his scripts to better reflect the world today. “[Sam is] a person who writes and rewrites and writes and rewrites again, because I think he’s wrestling with what’s important,” Domingo said. “He’s responding immediately to what the ills of the world are.”

“I know that the one thing I can tell you is that he’s very much interested in the existential question of who we are right now. Our souls. That’s what he wants to figure out with Season 3.”

Keep reading for everything else we know about Season 3 of Euphoria so far, including cast updates, possible plot points and whether it's canceled.

Has Euphoria been canceled?

On March 24, 2024, World of Reel reported that the cast was told on Friday, March 22 that "they could free up their schedules for other projects" and that the show was canceled.

However, HBO announced on March 25, 2024 that the network and creator Sam Levinson "remain committed to making an exceptional third season." Still, according to Deadline, the cast was indeed given permission to take other projects—meaning filming, which was expected to resume in a couple of months, is still a long ways off.

**What is the Euphoria Season 3 release date?**

The show will not return any earlier than 2025, which would be no less than three years after its Season 2 finale in February 2022.

Although Levinson started working on scripts prior to the writers' strike that began in May 2023 and lasted five months, Franscesca Orsi, HBO’s head of drama, told Deadline in May 2023 that there weren't "countless" of them.

“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."

Writing is now underway, but judging from Domingo's interview with GQ, it's slow going.

**What happened in Euphoria Season 1?**

Season 1 starts with an introduction to all the characters, most notably Rue (Zendaya), a drug addict. In a voiceover, she tells the audience that as a child, she was diagnosed with panic attacks, possible bipolar disorder and other mental health issues—and that her father died when she was 13. She began taking her mother’s Xanax and spiraled from there, going to rehab right before her junior year of high school. By Episode 1, she's already relapsed.

The first season also introduces us to Jules (Hunter Schafer), a transgender girl who's new to town. She tries to date online, and first finds a match with a much older man with the online name DominantDaddy who turns out to be married father Cal Jacobs (Eric Dane); they have sex and he records the event.

Jules then finds ShyGuy118, or “Tyler,” who is revealed to be Nate (Jacob Elordi), the high school quarterback—and the show's villain. Turns out, Nate is Cal Jacobs’ son. He’d seen Cal’s recording and several other things in his dad’s porn stash (Cal has been cheating on his wife with several young men and transgender women). Nate has a physically abusive relationship with his father and is abusive to his own girlfriend Maddy (Alexa Demie). He blackmails Jules into keeping quiet about his dad and again to get her to name a boy he beat up as his girlfriend’s rapist.

Meanwhile, Rue has been slowly falling in love with Jules after meeting her at the end of Episode 1. They become friends and Jules expresses concern about Rue’s relapse. The two finally kiss in Episode 5 (couple name: Rules!), but the road from there is rocky, with Jules saying she is also in love with another girl and later leaving Rue at a train station.

Season 1 ends with Rue’s friend and dealer Fez's (Angus Cloud) house being raided, Nate’s ex Maddy stealing the DVD with Cal and Jules on it, and Rue having an extremely graphic overdose.

What happened in the special episodes of Euphoria?

HBO released two standalone episodes, titled “Rue” and “Jules," between Seasons 1 and 2.

Rue

"Rue," out in December 2020, featured a conversation between Rue and her sponsor (Colman Domingo), in which Rue reveals she blamed Jules for her relapse and that she was suicidal—but clean—at that time.

Jules

“Jules,” out January 2021, dealt with Jules's own feelings in a single therapy session. Viewers discovered that Jules’s mother was also a recovering addict, which is why Jules was reluctant to get involved with Rue. Jules also admits she's not over “Tyler.” At the end of “Jules,” Rue appears to wish her a Merry Christmas.

What happened in Euphoria Season 2?

Season 2 starts with Rue, still doing voiceovers, explaining how Fez got into dealing drugs (through his grandmother). Rue meets another drug user, Elliot (Dominic Fike), in a building where a New Year’s Eve party is going on. Maddy’s friend Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) secretly starts seeing Nate and Jules cheats on Rue with Elliott.

Also in this season, Rue gets a suitcase from Laurie, a middle-aged drug dealer, containing $10,000 in drugs that she's supposed to sell to other students—only she quietly ends up using them herself. To hide this, Rue starts telling people she is only smoking marijuana.

“Now, in all fairness, I did say from the beginning that I had no intention of staying clean," Rue says in Episode 3. "But I get it. Our country’s dark and f----d up and people just want to find hope. Somewhere. Anywhere. If not in reality, then in television."

Finally, in Episode 5 the jig is up. Rue’s mom asks Rue about her drug use and Rue loses it, accusing younger sister Gia (Storm Reid) of telling on her and becoming irate about the whereabouts of Laurie’s suitcase. She becomes so agitated she destroys a bedroom door.“You wish I was different? So do I!” Rue says. “You f------g hate me? So do I!”

Jules and Elliot, who, unbeknownst to Rue, have been sitting in the living room, reveal that the drugs in the case are gone, as they flushed them down the toilet. Rue recognizes that the others are staging an intervention of sorts and insults them. She ultimately agrees to go to the hospital—but bolts out of her mother’s car in the middle of traffic once rehab is mentioned. She goes on the run, finding herself at friends’ houses and outing Cassie’s relationship with Nate along the way, and attempts to steal drugs and valuables everywhere she goes. She even has a run-in with cops. Finally she showed up at Laurie’s.

She gives Laurie everything she’s stolen and explains the situation. Laurie draws hers a bath, injects her with morphine to deal with withdrawal symptoms and tells Rue that there are other ways girls can pay off their debt. Later, Rue wakes up in bed and manages to escape. At the end of the episode, Rue’s mom hears knocking at the door—but viewers didn’t see who it is.

“I think in this show, and this season more specifically, [Rue] hits rock bottom,” Zendaya said in a message she posted to Instagram ahead of Episode 5’s airing. “It’s my hope for people watching that they still see her as someone worthy of their love… and that we still see the good in her even if she can’t see it in herself.”

The season ends on a major cliffhanger, with a SWAT team storming Fezco's house. Ashtray, Fez's protective kid brother may have met a terrible end.

**Are there Euphoria Season 3 spoilers?**

Not yet, but the show's costumer, Heidi Bivens, has said that there's talk of the show returning with a five-year time jump—meaning the characters would be out of high school.

Last we saw, the Maddy/Cassie/Nate situation is far from over and Maddy has that Jules/Cal DVD to use against Nate and Cal.

And even though Cal has seemingly left his family, Dane says he’ll be back. “I happen to know that’s not the end,” he’s said. Elordi adds, “The boys are just getting started.” Could he also be alluding to Nate’s second brother, who has never appeared in the show?

Other storylines Season 3 might address: Will Laurie go after Rue for the missing drug money? Is Laurie attempting to force Rue into prostitution? Will Nate ever be punished? Will Rue ever be able to stay clean? How will Rue’s actions affect her younger sister and mother? How much further down can Rue go?

"It's really important that there's light at the end of the tunnel for her,” Zendaya has said about her character. “Because I think she has a lot of beauty inside of her. Whether or not she quite sees that yet, is her own thing."

Which cast members and characters are returning for Euphoria Season 3?

HBO hasn't made any casting announcements, but let's assume the following will return:

Hunter Schafer (Jules)

Jacob Elordi (Nate)

Alexa Demie (Maddy)

Algee Smith (Chris)

Sydney Sweeney (Cassie)

Maude Apatow (Lexi)

Dominic Fike (Elliot)

Martha Kelly (Laurie)

Storm Reid (Gia)

Nika King (Leslie)

In a clip from one of King's standup acts making the rounds in early March 2024, she said that she doesn't know when the show will be back. "Don't ask me, I don't know," she said. "...People are like, 'We need Season 3.' I'm like, b-tch, I need Season 3. I haven't paid my rent in 6 months. And Zendaya's over in Paris at fashion week. I'm like, b-tch, come home! I need you! Mama needs you."

Who's not returning for Euphoria Season 3?

Barbie Ferreira (Kat)

In August 2022, Barbie Ferreira announced in an Instagram story that she would be leaving the show. Her departure is not a surprise considering the lack of a storyline for Kat in the back half of Euphoria Season 2.