'Euphoria' is the best and worst it's ever been in Season 3 − Review
'Euphoria' is the best and worst it's ever been in Season 3 − Review
Kelly Lawler, USA TODAYThu, April 9, 2026 at 6:49 PM UTC
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It's impossible to fully prepare yourself for the return of "Euphoria."
Sure, you can catch up on Seasons 1 and 2 of HBO's shock-and-awe hit series about teenagers who do things no parent wants their child to do. Created by Sam Levinson (who tried and failed to create a similar scandal with flop "The Idol" in 2023), "Euphoria" has notoriously gone far past sex, drugs and rock 'n roll into the realm of sex, drugs, drug cartels, assault with a deadly weapon, blackmail, betrayal − and electronica pop.
But four years since its last season and seven years since it began, "Euphoria" has come back to a completely different zeitgeist — and not just because Sydney Sweeney, Zendaya and newly-minted Oscar nominee Jacob Elordi are all bonafide A-listers bigger than the show. The world has changed, the stars have changed and "Euphoria" (Sundays, 9 ET/PT, ★★ out of four) has changed. In some ways, "Euphoria" is better than it's ever been after a time jump that makes its characters officially "adults" (Levinson and HBO are now unable to ignore that most of the cast is pushing 30). Plots elements like MS-13 members, Russian roulette games and DIY porn feel less absurd and gross when we're no longer pretending these are children going to high school. The characters all take their behaviors to absurd extremes, but at least none of them are minors anymore.
Zendaya as Rue in "Euphoria" Season 3.
But the sins of "Euphoria" past remain, and are only highlighted in a streamlined version of the show, which has jettisoned several characters and plot threads. As always, it's oversexed and under plotted, with characters that are more Abercrombie cardboard cutouts than realized people. Zendaya's Rue thrives in her own weird little story, but Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) lacks a personality other than whining, Nate (Elordi) lacks a personality other than anger, and hyper-sexualized Maddie (Alexa Demie) lacks a personality other than blind ambition. Jules (Hunter Schaffer), one of the best performances on the show from its very first episode, is barely present in the first half of the season. Lexi (Maude Apatow) is just kind of there, still incongruously normal compared to her friends. There's a struggle to bring all these disparate alumni of one high school into the same orbit as they, naturally, take on new, adult lives.
Rue, who has long struggled with addiction, is now fully in her own "Big Lebowski"-style absurdist crime drama about sex and drug trafficking in the American southwest. In what is easily the new season's most interesting plot, the zoned-out and down-for-anything Rue finds herself along for a wacky (and life-threatening) ride under a new boss, a pimp played with scenery-chewing overzealousness by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje ("Lost").
Sydney Sweeney as Cassie in "Euphoria."
With Rue mostly off on her own adventures, the show occasionally drops in on the lives of the other characters. Cassie and Nate are engaged, living in a mansion styled straight out of "Dynasty" and deeply unhappy. Cassie, ignored and petulant, wants to become an influencer, even if it means taking off her clothes on OnlyFans. Nate, now the boss at his dad's company, is a boy playing dress up in the manager's office, determined to cling to Cassie even though he seems to actively despise her.
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Maddie and Lexi have both nabbed jobs in Hollywood, Lexi climbing the conventional ladder and Maddie trying to make a name for herself managing influencers. Jules eventually shows up, arty and mature. She's better than the show. A host of famous guest stars make little to no impact, from Sharon Stone to Natasha Lyonne to NFL running back Marshawn Lynch. Eric Dane makes an appearance (posthumously), reprising his role as Nate's despicable dad.
Jacob Elordi as Nate in "Euphoria" Season 3.
While the young actors light up the screen in their other ventures, here, they are simply dragged and squeezed into Levinson's male gaze bacchanalia. There are constant zooms on the bodies of the young women — moments that both criticize and revel in their exploitation. It's not nearly the gratuitous levels of Levinson's crash-and-burn "Idol," but the creator is still employing the same tactics that made the rage-baiting "Euphoria" a phenomenon. (There are no less than two excrement-related "gags" in the first episode alone.) There's no denying people were watching, and will again.
1 / 0See the 'Euphoria' cast's evolution from Season 1 to Season 3
"Euphoria" is officially back!Four years after the conclusion of its second season, the hit HBO series returns with its highly-anticipated third season on April 12. Slated to pick up five years after the events of Season 2, "Euphoria" Season 3 sees the return of much of its ensemble cast, including Zendaya, Jacob Elordi and Sydney Sweeney, while also introducing a new set of characters.As fans prepare to return to the tumultuous lives of "Euphoria's" sprawling characters, here's a look at just how much they've changed since their initial introduction to audiences in Season 1 (2019).Pictured above, Zendaya as Rue Bennett in "Euphoria"s first season.
So that's why we're back here, even if the show's Hollywood It girls and boys would seemingly rather be anywhere else than back in the characters that made them famous. Elordi is barely phoning it in. Sweeney, a lightning rod of controversy and fascination on and off screen, looks half asleep even as Levinson has her dressed up like a sexy dog (really). Zendaya is still fully committed, but her zombified, affectless Rue is starting to resemble her cynical "Spider-Man" character.
If you liked "Euphoria" then, you'll like it now. If you hated it then, you'll still hate it, but perhaps with less zeal. There is less passion and vibrancy to the show even at its most objectionable moments. The fire has gone out, the party drugs are all used up, and the lights have turned on at the club.
It's a weak coda on what will likely be the final season of a show that once sought to be the voice of a generation, and now hopes only to be invited to the group chat.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Euphoria' Season 3 review − The best (and worst) it's ever been
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
