HBO denies reports that Euphoria season 3 is canceled, remains 'committed to making an exceptional third season'

Don’t believe everything you hear coming from the rumor mill: HBO has confirmed that despite gossip circulating on social media, season 3 of Euphoria is still a-go.

“HBO and Sam Levinson remain committed to making an exceptional third season,” an HBO spokesperson told EW. “In the interim, we are allowing our in-demand cast to pursue other opportunities.”

The gritty high school drama about a spiraling teen addict and her equally messy classmates includes rising stars like Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi, Hunter Schafer, Storm Reid, Austin Abrams, and more, who have all been booked and busy since appearing in the show.

While the coming-of-age series will indeed return to thrill and traumatize, production on the show’s third season has again been delayed.

Back in November, HBO boss Casey Bloys explained that the show’s 2025 premiere date was heavily impacted by the joint actors' and writers' strikes. Writing on the series was said to have resumed when the writers' strike came to a close on Sept. 27 (after 148 days). Filming has yet to begin, as work on the scripts continues.

Many of the show's stars have noted the elongated time between the second and third seasons. Earlier this year, Nika King, who plays Zendaya’s mother in the show, joked during a stand-up set that she needs the show to come back as soon as possible because she has bills to pay.

"Don't ask me [when season 3 is coming out]. I don't f---ing know," she said in footage from the event posted on her TikTok account. "People are like, 'We need season 3,' and I'm like, bitch, I need season 3! I haven’t paid my rent in six months."

Elordi also poked fun at the hiatus during a January appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. When the host asked him when filming would resume, he joked, “I don’t know, do you know?”

He added, “I hope it’s soon, or they’re going to have to Benjamin Button me or something. I’m going to have a bad back walking down the hallway, you know?”

The network, creator and cast have been tight-lipped about what’s to come in the story, though Levinson previously described the third season as a "film noir." He said that through Zendaya’s Rue, he plans to "explore what it means to be an individual with principles in a corrupt world."

The second season came to a close in Feb. 2022 after an excruciating climax that saw Rue hitting rock bottom as she reconciled the consequences of her relapse. While the network has not confirmed which cast members will return for season 3, a few absences are already set in stone. Barbie Ferreira previously announced a "teary-eyed goodbye" to her character Kat Hernandez and the upcoming season will also grapple with the unexpected death of Angus Cloud, who played the sensitive drug dealer Fezco, and died of an accidental overdose last year.

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