Topline
The third season of the Zendaya-led drama series, Euphoria, will start filming at the start of 2025 following a rocky break and an indefinite production delay announced earlier this year that extended the wait for fans who have long clamored for a follow-up to the show’s second season.
Season three will begin filming in 2025. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO)
Key Facts
The show will begin filming its third season in January, according to HBO, meaning production will start about three years after season two was released.
If the new season’s production schedule is similar to that of season two, which took around 10 months from the start of filming to its premiere, season three could release in early 2026—though HBO has not confirmed an exact or approximate release date.
Euphoria’s principal cast will return for the third season, including Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi, Hunter Schafer and Alexa Demie, according to multiple outlets.
Four years will have passed between season two and three if the new season premieres in 2026, a gap that has seen Euphoria’s cast age farther away from the youth of their high school characters, who may be subject to a time-jump in the third season.
News of Euphoria’s upcoming season comes after a lengthy break marred by the writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023 and the death of Angus Cloud, who played fan-favorite character, Fezco.
The break became even lengthier after HBO announced in March that Euphoria was indefinitely postponed, saying it was allowing its cast members to pursue other projects as Zendaya, Sweeney and Elordi would go onto star in a cumulative 13 movies following the premiere of Euphoria season two.
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Tangent
HBO turned down a character arc for Zendaya’s character of Rue detailed in early scripts of the third season. Series creator Sam Levinson pitched ideas for Rue becoming a private investigator or a surrogate mother following a time-skip in the show, according to Variety.
Key Background
Euphoria was renewed for a third season about a month after season two premiered. The multi-year wait for a new season has left fans without closure, as the latest season ended with multiple cliffhangers and unanswered questions about the characters’ lives and relationships. The show’s break turned tragic last year when Cloud died of an accidental overdose just one week after his father’s burial. The 25-year-old’s character, Fezco, ended the second season on one of the show’s biggest cliffhangers. Barbie Ferrera, who played Kat Hernandez, said last year she would not be returning to Euphoria, citing creative differences with Levinson over the character’s development. Season three’s production was also complicated by the writers’ and actors’ strikes last year, when Euphoria was supposed to begin filming, according to Maude Apatow, who plays Lexi Howard on the show.
Further Reading
Barbie Ferreira Left Euphoria Because She Didn’t Want to Be “the Fat Best Friend” (Vanity Fair)
