The season 3 premiere of Euphoria had fun with the time jump by having Rue smuggle — and poop out — drugs in balloons while Cassie is enjoying life as a right-wing suburban wife.
During the Sunday, April 12, episode of the hit HBO series, Rue (Zendaya) recapped how her debt to a drug dealer turned into her smuggling fentanyl from Mexico to America through drug balloons. She would swallow them and have to make it back home in time to poop them out to help distribute.
Rue tried to pivot careers by asking a strip club owner named Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) to employ her. They connected after she told him she believed in God and following a brief test where he tried to shoot an apple off her head, Rue and Alamo were in business.
Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), meanwhile, was living in a right-wing area with Nate (Jacob Elordi). She wanted to have a big wedding, which meant Cassie was trying to make it big on OnlyFans by creating sexy videos of her as a dog — amongst other things.
Then there was Lexi (Maude Apatow) who was working in Hollywood as an assistant and avoiding Fez’s calls. (It was mentioned that he was serving 30 years behind bars as a way to explain Angus Cloud‘s death.) Maddy (Alexa Demie) was also finding mild success working for a talent manager.
Euphoria, which premiered in 2019, originally followed troubled high school student Rue as she struggled to remain sober after rehab. The hit HBO series was quickly renewed for a second season after its premiere, but it took nearly three years for the episodes to air.
Season 3 was originally set to air on HBO in 2025 before facing several obstacles, including Levinson’s commitment to his short-lived series The Idol. The dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which took place in late 2023, prolonged the delay.
Euphoria ultimately went into production later that year on the show’s final season. Since season 2 concluded, the cast went through a loss when Cloud died at age 25 in July 2023 following an accidental overdose and Eric Dane‘s death in February after a battle with ALS.
“Some people ask why it took so long between seasons 2 and 3. There were obvious factors — the strikes, trying to make a schedule work with our very in-demand cast, but the real time was in trying to figure out how to find a way to pay respect to those who we lost,” creator Sam Levinson said in a speech ahead of the season 3 premiere.
He continued: “When Angus died, it was tough. I loved him deeply, and I fought hard to keep him clean. The year he died, in 2023, he was one of 73,000 people in America who died of a fentanyl overdose. I learned a whole lot that year, but what I realized more than anything is that death is what gives life meaning. You can’t be arrogant about existence. You’re forced to reckon with the fact that life itself is a wonder, a gift, a profound blessing.
Euphoria airs on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
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