The highly anticipated third season of the acclaimed series Euphoria debuts today on HBO Max, following significant developments off-screen since the conclusion of the second season.
Since its premiere in 2022, Euphoria has catapulted several actors, including Zendaya and Sydney Sweeney, into stardom, with Australian actor Jacob Elordi even receiving an Oscar nomination.
Tragically, Eric Dane passed away in February, and some of his final performances will be featured in this season. Additionally, Angus Cloud tragically lost his life from an accidental drug overdose in 2023.
Sam Levinson, the show’s creator, executive producer, writer, and director, was profoundly impacted by Cloud’s death. He expresses that this new season serves as a tribute to Cloud and the approximately 70,000 individuals in the U.S. who succumbed to fentanyl overdoses in 2023.
Marshawn Lynch, a former NFL player turned actor and a fellow Oakland native like Zendaya and Cloud, shared that before Cloud’s passing, he inspired Bay Area rapper C5 to create a song in his honor. The track, titled after Lynch, serves as a recognition of his contributions while he is still alive.
Lynch attributes his decision to join Euphoria largely to Cloud’s influence, stating, “That was like a huge deciding factor for me when this opportunity came about. It’s an opportunity for me to keep that Oakland legacy thing going within the biggest show in the mother******* world.”
In season three, Lynch joins a cast that welcomes several new faces alongside returning regulars and guest stars, including Sharon Stone, Natasha Lyonne, and musician Rosalía.
This new season advances the timeline by five years, placing the main characters in their twenties as they navigate life beyond high school. Rue, played by Zendaya, finds herself in Texas after a drug run from Mexico, where she dines with a rural Christian family and is inspired by their happiness, prompting her to seek meaning in her own life.
Lynch portrays G, an enforcer for Alamo, a character played by Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje, who owns multiple strip clubs and forms a close bond with Rue. Akinnouye-Agbaje describes the relationship between Rue and Alamo as akin to a mentor and disciple, noting, “She sees his world as freedom. It’s glamorous, it’s girls, it’s gold guns, it’s [a] man in a hot tub with beautiful exotic women in a big mansion on top of a hill overlooking everybody.”
As the season progresses, viewers can expect a deeper exploration of the darker aspects of Alamo’s world and how Rue becomes intertwined in it, raising questions about her ability to escape and find what she is searching for.
Akinnouye-Agbaje characterizes Alamo as a modern cowboy, drawing inspiration from classic western characters he admired as a child in England. He also researched cowboy culture and the term’s origins, explaining how it historically carried derogatory connotations before being popularized by Hollywood.
He perceives Alamo as someone who has risen from challenging beginnings, stating, “There’s this regalness that he’s almost an emperor in his empire that has achieved what he feels the American dream [is].”
Alamo is accompanied by another enforcer, Bishop, played by Darrell Britt-Gibson, who remains focused and undistracted by the club’s temptations. Britt-Gibson highlights the significance of depicting black cowboys, a narrative often overlooked in history, expressing that it is a unique and enriching experience.
Viewers can now stream Season 3 of Euphoria on HBO Max.
