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The forthcoming new season of HBO‘s buzzy hit series starring Zendaya skips ahead five years from where season two left off when the show returns on April 12. The official return date was revealed on Wednesday, along with a high-octane, nail-biting two minute-plus first look (watch, below).
Creator Sam Levinson had recently revealed (with photos) where the main group of former high school friends are now as young adults with the time jump: Starring addict Rue (Zendaya) is south of the border in Mexico and in debt to drug dealer Laurie (Martha Kelly); Sydney Sweeney‘s unhappy Cassie and Jacob Elordi‘s Nate are engaged and living in the suburbs, and eventually get married; Hunter Schafer‘s Jules is in art school; Alexa Demi’s Maddie is working at a Hollywood talent agency; and Maude Apatow‘s Lexi is working as an assistant to a showrunner played by new castmember Sharon Stone.
The trailer expands on those updates, as it follows Rue in her life after high school. “I don’t know if life was exactly what I wished, but somehow, for the first time, I was beginning to have faith,” she says to narrate the trailer, speaking in the past tense. But her life is upended when Laurie shows up, reminding her that she owes her money, and Laurie looks to be only the beginning of danger ahead for Rue.
Rue is also reminded about her ex Jules, and they are seen in a brief reunion in the trailer. Meanwhile, Cassie is filming NSFW videos for the internet, much to the chagrin of fiancé Nate who says, “I work all day and my bride-to-be is spread eagle on the internet.” She responds, “I was just making content.” Their wedding is also shown in the trailer.
Levinson has said that “being out of the safety net of school” is what the new season is about. “The one thing we all agreed on is we can’t go back to high school — although many, many shows have had 30-year-old high school students, we’re not,” said the writer/director/executive producer previously. “Five years felt like a natural place [to jump] because if they had gone to college they’d be out of college at that time.”
New castmembers this season include Danielle Deadwyler, Eli Roth, Natasha Lyonne, Rosalía, Marshawn Lynch, Sam Trammell and Asante Blackk, to name a few. Eric Dane, who was recently diagnosed with ALS, Chloe Cherry, Dominic Fike, Nika King and Colman Domingo are returning, but missing from the cast this season are Storm Reid, Austin Abrams and Javon Walton. Angus Cloud, who played fan-favorite drug dealer Fezco, died July 2023.
Euphoria‘s long-awaited return comes more than four years after season two premiered on HBO. The unusually long hiatus was due to a number of factors — including aligning the schedules for the in-demand cast, Levinson’s other HBO series The Idol in the interim, and a cooling relationship between Levinson and star Zendaya, as The Hollywood Reporter detailed in a cover story last year.
The series initially launched in 2018. Here’s a reminder of what happened at the end of season two.
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