Euphoria season 3 has delayed filming, though HBO still eyes a 2025 return

HBO’s hit controversial show Euphoria from the risqué maestro, Sam Levinson, has delayed the shoot for season 3. Levinson had planned to work on season 3 while his other series for HBO, Idol, was in post-production, but the dual strikes from the writers’ and actors’ unions would initially hold up the production. HBO’s Head of Drama Francesca Orsi said last year, “Euphoria is one of those that we had begun writing in tandem with post-production on Idol but at this point, we don’t have countless scripts. We can’t start shooting, so the delivery of that show — ideally in 2025 — will be determined on when we can pick back up with Sam [Levinson], who at this point is all pencils down and just finishing posts on Idol.“

Now HBO is telling Deadline that while Levinson tweaks the scripts for season 3, they are letting the stars take on other projects during the delay. In the statement from the premium channel, they explain, “HBO and Sam Levinson remain committed to making an exceptional third season. In the interim, we are allowing our in-demand cast to pursue other opportunities.” Sources had said that the show did not set a firm start date to production, but shooting was expected to take place sometime in the next couple of months. Sydney Sweeney, at the SXSW premiere of her movie Immaculate, was asked about taking time off after the festival, and the actress would say, “I go into Euphoria.”

Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo talked about the delay and teased what the upcoming themes of next season that the series was set to explore, “[Sam is] a person who writes and rewrites and writes and rewrites again, because I think he’s wrestling with what’s important. He’s responding immediately to what the ills of the world are. I know that the one thing I can tell you is that he’s very much interested in the existential question of who we are right now. Our souls. That’s what he wants to figure out with season three.”

The star power of Domingo, Sweeney and Zendaya is continually climbing. HBO’s allowance of their stars to explore projects while in delay may set up a situation where, when the production is finally able to move forward, it may suffer similar scheduling issues as Arrested Development and Community when the cast of those shows had stacked their schedules to the point where their reunions became tricky.