Zendaya and HBO both shot down Sam Levinson’s Euphoria season 3 ideas
Nobody wanted to watch Zendaya's Rue work as a private detective, apparently
Aux News Zendaya
Things are not well in the world of HBO’s hit “teen” drama Euphoria, per a new report from Variety. The high school series, one of the semi-recent crown jewels of the network’s prestige TV offerings, hasn’t released new episodes since February 2022—a.k.a., enough time for even more of its less-young-by-the-minute leads to become massively huge stars, and for multiple people associated with the production to outright die, and for creator Sam Levinson to make a whole other TV show that was, by all accounts, a huge, expensive, and embarrassing mess. This week, HBO announced it was delaying the start of production on the show’s third season (while still reassuring audiences that said third season will be made), and now there’s this Variety report, which says that both HBO, and series star Zendaya, have expressed unhappiness with some of Levinson’s proposed story ideas for a third season, forcing him back to the drawing board multiple times as he works to find something that’ll make everybody happy (in a provocative, genre-defining TV sort of way).
According to the report, Levinson has largely worked out “compelling” arcs for Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie and Jacob Elordi’s Nate (fulfilling at least two-thirds of Euphoria’s “genuine movie stars now” quota). But he hasn’t been able to crack a plotline that everybody likes for Zendaya’s lead character Rue, having apparently pitched both HBO and Zendaya on arcs like “Maybe there’s a time jump and Rue is now a private detective?” which nobody apparently liked. (Variety is quick to note, by the way, that Zendaya has no official veto powers on the show’s scripts, all of which Levinson writes—but also notes that she and Levinson have always had a collaborative relationship that fueled Euphoria’s early success, so her buy-in is kind of essential.) At least some elements, suggested to include a Zendaya pitch where a now-sober Rue is a pregnancy surrogate, were reportedly rejected for “not feeling like the show”—a tricky prospect to deal with for a high-school-set series whose leads are now all in their mid-to-late 20s, and who are supposedly at least trying to mature as people.
Meanwhile, Euphoria has an enormous number of tensions hanging over its head: The 2023 death of star Angus Cloud, whose character Fez was central to some of Levinson’s early drafts for the third season; the death of long-time producer Kevin Turan, also in 2023, further slowing the creative process; the dismal production and reception of Levinson’s The Idol, which has apparently convinced HBO that they really need finished scripts from him before they send him off to start filming. And hanging over it all, the sheer, almost stultifying potential the series carries at this points: How many times has a network had a contract on its hand to make a new season of a highly successful TV show starring multiple highly bankable movie stars, all of whom, by all accounts, still actually want to make the show? And all of it is resting on Levinson’s would-be auteur shoulders: No wonder the cracks are starting to show.
72 Comments
MJ, PI
Maybe get rid of the creepy hack Levinson somehow. If the show hinges on him being there, just cancel the damn thing already.
I mean, the show is a huge success. He is the creator whom all the stars still want to work with…so good idea?
That’s embarrassing for them
I mean, for all the pearl clutching from terminally online right-wingers, it’s been well known since the 80s that overt pedophilia sells on screen. Look how much money Brooke Shields’ mom made! Euphoria isn’t even the only “school full of horny teens bang” show on cable. Americans (and the British if Sex Education is any indicator) LOVE shows where they can imagine underage kids slamming meat. Heck, if it weren’t foreign I bet most people would have stanned Cuties super hard. So yeah, if we just want to chase public opinion and cash, we need MORE Levinson shows, and more old dudes copycatting him. No doubt.
Won’t someone please think of the children… and all the crazy hot sex they could be having.
Oh, look. Another person who doesn’t understand what “pedophilia” means.
Twitterbrain
The vibe from the variety article seems to indicate that Levinson is on thin ice. For now, they’re likely going to wait until October when he’s meant to submit more drafts. The bind for HBO is that show is massively successful and they already have this rapidly breaking out cast of future movie stars contracted and paid for at least one more season. If the show was one of those bubble shows, they undoubtedly would have pulled the plug by now. HBO had the westworld cast paid for season 5, and they still cancelled the show and paid off the cast regardless. Season 3 will definitely be the end of euthoria though.
Season 3 will definitely be the end of euthoria though.They’re gonna euthanise it?
They’ll euphorianise it.
Is…is that a euphemism?
A euphoriaism?
Everybody says Zendaya is great in this series so I believe them, I never watched it, but I really don’t understand the appeal based on her other works. She is bland in Spiderman, so far from Kirsten Dunst or Emma Stone in similar roles that it is painful, and she was she worst part of Dune 2.
Reception of acting is subjective – sometimes we’re just not really buing what the performer is selling. It’s OK. I did enjoy Zendaya’s work in the Spiderman franchise, but I havent seen her in Euphoria nor in Dune 2 (yet). In Dune pt. 1 she had nothing to really work with.
But I also find Christian Bale, widely regarded as one of the best actors working today, to be just good. Same with, for example, Bryan Cranston or, from what I’ve seen of his work, Barry Keoghan. None of those guys are bad actors from my perspective, but I don’t connect with them enough to fully get on the hype train.
One of my absolute faves is Gary Oldman – many people seem to be so, so fond of his Gordon in the Dark Knight Trilogy, I am not. I don’t think anybody’s wrong here, it’s just the “subjective” part of “art is subjective”.
i can’t imagine someone citing Gordon as Gary Oldman’s best / favorite performance when Leon the Professional and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy exist.
I agree (my personal favourite is his role in State of Grace), but Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is 13 years old (not that terrible) and Leon is 30 years old – less and less people will be familiar with those movies (The Dark Knight Trilogy has a higher profile than any of those movies).
Or Tiptoes
What I’ve come to realise is that most of the internet considers a “good actor” to actually mean “HEY I RECOGNISE THIS ACTOR AND I LIKE THEM FOR REASONS NOT WHOLLY RELATED TO ACTING AND ALSO THEY ARE ACTING THE SAME AS THEY ALWAYS ACT AND THAT IS COMFORTING TO ME WHICH IS GOOD BECAUSE I HATE BEING EXPOSED TO ANYTHING NEW AND UNFAMILIAR SCARES ME AND ALSO I KNOW THAT OTHER PEOPLE WILL RECOGNISE THE SAME THINGS AND THUS WE CAN TECHNICALLY BE FRIENDS, PLEASE?”
I didn’t understand the hype around Zendaya until I watched Euphoria. Might be one of those situations where you need to see it to understand what people are talking about.
Ehhh… I love him, but Christopher Walken was easily the worst part of Dune 2. Absolutely phoning it in.
I used to watch her in her last Disney Channel show, K.C. Undercover, where she played a spy who every once in a while took missions and attended highschool. By the end of the last season she graduated. Btw, that show was not above fart jokes. One other thing to note she sang the opening credits song for that show.
Is she in the room with us now?
She was fine in Dune, and great in some other roles. Kristen Dunst was terrible in the Spider Man movies, and based on your posting youre more troll than nuance.
The worst part of Dune 2, btw, was the lack of a good fight between Bautista and Brolin.
I am a troll because I don’t agree with you. How nuanced. Durst was excellent and I think most people agree on this. Zendaya being below the other actors in Dune 2 is also a very mainstream and common opinion. You of course have the right not to agree but she almost took me out of the movie. She was a casting error in my eyes.
I said based on your other posts. I went and read some of your other comments to ensure I was forming a fair opinion. tyvm. Durst wore a red cap and did it for the nookie, Dunst was not great in the Spiderman movies, she’s a good actress, just those roles were not great for any female. Zendaya being below other actors is a far cry from “worst part of Dune 2″, so nuanced is not exactly your forte. I can disagree, and do. I am not saying she was a tour de force, but your “this is main stream, many people are saying, the worst…”
“those roles were not great for any female.”But I am the troll.
How’s the weather out there on Contrarian Island?
The opposite of the weather where you live.
…dammit.
That take isn’t exactly contrarian, she was shockingly bad in Dune 2.
/rolls eyes
Contrarian ? I think my opinion is extremely mainstream, I hear it from everybody.
Well, if that isn’t irrefutable proof, I don’t know what is.
Euphoria is beautiful to look at and beautifully acted. Zendaya brings a lot of humanity to what otherwise would be a caricature of addiction.
I think she’s really good, she still comes across as very young though.
I’ve never seen the show and have no idea what it’s about but I find it hard to believe that it wouldn’t be improved by the addition of a time travelling detective.
Yeah, but few things wouldn’t be improved with one of those.
As someone who had, at the time, acquired an HBO account via ATT mobile service and looking for something of interest to watch on the service…..I only watched the first season; it was essentially a bunch of high schoolers doing super explore your sexualities things, super druggie using things, and then blackmailing people into prison things. You know, one of those “how real teens deal with the problems of today” expose shows. Sort of a hard-drinking-edged take on the Freeform young college kid dramas ( or least what I imagine those show to be like based on their promos…I’ve never watched them).They had another show that I think was called Generation+, which was something similar, but felt a lot more real and honest to how high schoolers act. But…NO BLACKMAILING PLOTS…just “how am I going to handle being a teen mother when I’ve got finals coming up”.
So you are saying that a time traveling detective would not be to far fetched then?
Only if time travelling detective was extremely angsty and gritty, and set to moody pop music by edgy performers you haven’t heard of. ( Actually, from what I remember of season 1, the soundtrack was pretty strong)
What’s this I hear about Zendaya playing the next Doctor?
I get the feeling it was a bunch of 30-something TV writers sitting around the writer’s room all trying to loudly come across as how “cool” they were in high school and that they were absolutely not dorks.“OH, YEAH, YEAH, I TOTALLY WASN’T A DORK. I, LIKE, DID DRUGS AND STUFF. AND SEX.”“OH, YEAH, ME TOO. I WAS, LIKE, BANGING A 40-YEAR-OLD INVESTMENT BANKER WHEN I WAS 17 WHO BOUGHT ME STUFF, WHICH WAS TOTALLY NOT COOL (but please think that it was totally cool, just don’t say it out loud).”
Generation was fantastic but I guess there wasn’t room on the network for two high school shows.
If this isn’t a bit, I think you misread that – by “time jump” they mean “we flash forward to a future time,” not “Rue is a time travelling detective.”
Like Riverdale. They’ll time jump 5 years forward from 2023 to 2024. I assume they too will eventually time reverse-jump back to high school but also to the 1950s at the same time.
I WAS LOADEDI got a “Flash Forward” notification for this???
I appreciate every time that bit from that terrible, terrible show comes up. One of the classics of the AV Club of that era.
thank you, I appreciate being appreciated, I was actually the one who came up with this name lol OY!lasties
Something something CancerAids, something something Sweet, Sweet Laurel Canyon Sound, something something, Leonard Pierce already reviewed this product which hasn’t yet been released.
Nabin nabin nabin questionable narrative about being Eddie Redmayne’s gay lover from IdiotKing When I thought the commenting was gone I was like…thank you.
Remember the drugs in the jellybeans or whatever the fuck it was that absolutely was not in a 30 Rock episode?
The best way I’ve heard it describes is “Degrassi via A24.”
I actually kind of love the idea of him coming back with more and more outlandish suggestions, growing ever more desperate as they keep getting rejected:“Ok, so in Season Three, an alien will give Jules an exoskeleton, and she becomes a superhero! No? Well, howabout-”
“When Wolf!”“Christianity hasn’t been invented yet! Crosses are just baby Ts!”
I loved seasons one and two (even if watching the show triggered memories of every bad experience I had as a teen). I am happy with the way season two ended. I’m ready to move on …
Comments are back?to those who didn’t know, G/O Media has sold The A.V. Club and The Takeout
I didn’t know, thanks! I’m curious why there hasn’t been anything new on The Takeout for a couple of days.
Good, & good. Spanfeller is a herb.
I think they’re permanently dead on Kotaku, presumably due to their intention to fully cut humans out of the process, and also their EiC using comments to scream at readers.I’ll be honest, comments are the only things that keep me coming to the Kinja family. Just like Slate, when comments go, so do I. And I don’t expect sites to care about me, but I’m sure I’m not the only person to whom engagement matters.
They should really just stop.
the death of long-time producer Kevin Turan It’s Kevin Turen. Is it too much to ask to get an editor’s eyes on these articles before publishing?
We got comments back. I’m so happy about that small mercy I’m happy to ignore typos for a little bit.
and for multiple people associated with the production to outright dieIdk, this sounds kinda insensitive to me but what do I know.
With all of these shows with difficult showrunners taking 20 years between seasons (even accounting for strikes and pandemics) you’d think studios would get better at shepherding projects on more traditional timelines. Both LOST and a simpler show like Abbott Elementary have managed to thrive on standard schedules. I cannot imagine HBO can’t figure out how to create and meet deadlines. Constraints can inspire; endless timelines just waste time and don’t often turn out a better results.
Lost got pushed back to a half season from like January to May and people were scandalized!
I’m still clutching my pearls.
It’s because Levinson is the sole writer and sole director here. He doesn’t use a writers room to even generate ideas. Levinson was also wasting time revamping The Idol even though it was practically finished. The the idol turned out to be shitty, so now nobody knows what to do, but they can’t replace Levinson.
I think that’s what makes everything so much more aggravating. HBO has a much bigger flagship series, The Last of Us, which essentially shoots on time and with little drama, despite having excellent depth to the writing and a higher technical challenge relative to something like Euphoria. And it’s run by a single writer/show runner. Without any of the nonsense associated with Euphoria. I think there’s a solid case for either moving aside an auteur or forcing them into a creative partnership to move things along in a constructive way. At this stage the odds of Euphoria season 3 being solid are almost non-existent. Better to bring an adult (or adults) into the room to continue the series. Levinson is not irreplaceable creatively, so there would be little downside. HBO/WBD has alienated so many responsible creatives by canning movies with no notice or recourse — I cannot understand why they’d be so velvet-gloved here when a creative is basically messing everything up.
I’m happy for last of us, but it’s a massive question mark where they go from here. They’re going from adapting the universally beloved first game to adapting the brilliant but absurdly controversial second game. And what happens after that?
And what happens after that? It should end after that.
Now why exactly does this amazingly unattractive Disney singer get cast as often as she does?
Man SHUT THE FUCK UP. No one cared about your fucking boner, you loser car dork.