Euphoria's time-jumping reality is now officially a thing, thanks to the release of the full trailer for the eagerly anticipated season three. The highly anticipated new season of HBO's hit series, starring Zendaya, skips ahead five years from where season two left off, and returns on April 12. The official return date was revealed on Wednesday, along with a high-octane, nail-biting first look that clocks in at over two minutes.
Creator Sam Levinson 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 now in Mexico, deep 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 pursuing her art school dreams.
* Alexa Demi's Maddie is working at a Hollywood talent agency.
* Maude Apatow's Lexi is working as an assistant to a showrunner played by new cast member Sharon Stone.
The trailer expands on these updates, following Rue's life after high school. "I don't know if life was exactly what I wished for, but somehow, for the first time, I was beginning to have faith," she says as the trailer narrates 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 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 cast members 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 Storm Reid, Austin Abrams, and Javon Walton are missing from the cast this season. Angus Cloud, who played fan-favorite drug dealer Fezco, passed away in 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.
