After just one episode, **Euphoria** Season 3 has already attracted controversy, with fans outraged over the Sydney Sweeney dog scene. In response, the creator of the program, Sam Levinson, has defended his decision by explaining that he deliberately included this sequence to highlight the "absurdity" of it.
**Sam Levinson Explains Sydney Sweeney's Dog Scene in Euphoria Season 3**
The 41-year-old filmmaker revealed that he intentionally made the highly reprehensible scene so jarring to emphasize how disillusioned Cassie in Euphoria is from reality. "Cassie's transformation into a dog, with her dog house, little dog ears, and nose, carries its own humor," he noted in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "But the true significance of the scene lies in the fact that her housekeeper is the one filming it. Our goal was to find another layer of absurdity that we could tie into it, so we're not too immersed in her fantasy or illusion. The gag is to jump out and break the wall."
In a scene from Euphoria Season 3 Episode 1, Sydney Sweeney's character, Cassie, controversially dresses up as a dog to create content for her followers. Later, she tells Nate (Jacob Elordi) that she wants to open an OnlyFans account to pay for their wedding.
To drive the point home, Levinson and director of photography Marcell Rév also paid close attention to the setting of Sweeney's dog scene. "An obvious choice would have been something modern and very plain and fancy, but we ended up choosing this mid-century home, which is a little tacky but also stuck in the '70s," Rév noted. "It's a strange choice, but it gives us possibilities. OnlyFans has its own aesthetic, and how you elevate that aesthetic to the show's aesthetic is a challenge."
Levinson concluded his account on the topic by adding, "We wanted to capture what she's trying to show the audience and be inside of it, but then also pull back wider and see how depressing it is."
