Everything to Know About 'Euphoria' Ahead of Season 3
At long last, season three of Euphoria is almost upon us. After a four-year hiatus following the second season’s explosive finale, the forthcoming season (premiering Sunday, April 12, on HBO) jumps forward in time but still finds each character reckoning with the wreckage left in their wake. Here’s what you need to know about each of the returning characters ahead of Euphoria's third season.
Rue Got Clean, But Not for Long
Season two found Rue (Zendaya) hitting rock bottom in her addictions, getting hooked on heroin, and earning a $10,000 debt to drug dealer Laurie (Martha Kelly) after losing a suitcase full of drugs. She disowned longtime best friend/lover Jules (Hunter Schafer) after she, along with mutual friend Elliot (Dominic Fike), alerted Rue’s mother (Nika King) to her spiraling addictions and staged a makeshift intervention.
The final episodes of season two find the cast watching a play performed by Lexi (Maude Apatow) based on her friendship with Rue, Maddy (Alexa Demie), and her sister Cassie (Sydney Sweeney). Rue is one of the only audience members who reacts positively, later telling Lexi that the play was the first time she was able to look at her actions without hating herself. In a voiceover that concludes the season, Rue explains that she stayed off drugs until the end of that school year, not out of a conscious decision but simply because “it was just easier” than feeding her addiction.
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Jules Had Nowhere to Turn
Jules and Rue’s relationship in the first season was marked by Rue’s persistent, secretive drug use, and that didn’t really change in season two. What did change was Jules’ reaction to Rue’s drug use. Instead of taking responsibility for Rue’s sobriety as she did in the first season, Jules begins to pull away from Rue as her erratic behavior intensifies. Jules’ short romance with Elliot leads to the ill-fated intervention, which seemingly alienates Rue for good.
In the finale, after the chaos of Lexi’s play, Jules finds Rue in the audience and confesses her love for her. “I miss you,” she tells Rue. Rue doesn’t respond, but kisses Jules on the cheek before leaving. Jules is left seated in the auditorium, crying.
Nate Finally Took Control Over His Father
After Nate’s father, Cal (Eric Dane), left the family in spectacular fashion, Nate set about exacting revenge for his dad’s decades-long stranglehold over the family. After he’s humiliated by Lexi’s play, which features a thinly-veiled jab at Nate’s confused sexuality, he cruelly dumps new girlfriend Maddie and races home to grab his pistol. Nate finds his father living in one of his new buildings, and as the police arrive, he threatens Cal with the gun and presents him with a flash drive containing videos of his sexual exploits, including with the underage Jules. As the police arrest Cal, Nate slips quietly out of the building.
Cassie Was Left Humiliated by Hopeful
After the bombardment of Lexi’s play, Cassie took the stage to denounce the proceedings and set the record straight on her relationship with Nate. A meta confrontation plays out between Cassie, Lexi, and their mom (Alanna Ubach), which ends with Cassie attacking the actor playing her after a recreation of her molly-fueled carousel display in season one.
In the bathroom following the fight, Cassie is consoled by Nate’s ex-girlfriend (and her former best friend) Maddie. “He broke up with me before I even got on that stage,” Cassie says of Nate. “Don’t worry, it’s just the beginning,” Maddie tells her, an allusion to her own on-again-off-again relationship with Nate. And it is: season three finds the troubled couple getting married.
Maddy Reclaimed Her Autonomy
After nearly two seasons of basing her entire worth on her abusive relationship with Nate, the final episodes of the previous season allow her to finally become her own person and reclaim her autonomy. After discovering Cassie’s betrayal, Maddy bid farewell to her longtime friend and her ex alike in that climactic bathroom confrontation.
Lexi’s Big Moment Was Dampened
After working all season to get her debut play, Our Life, off the ground, Lexi was hit with a cascade of setbacks in the finale. Though her very expensive-looking high school play was rapturously received by East Highland’s population, Lexi painted the night as a failure due to Cassie’s unexpected intervention and the ensuing chaos.
Even more dramatic, Lexi’s season-long flirtation with Fezco (Angus Cloud) came to a violent end when his presence at the play was waylaid by a violent confrontation at his house.
Fezco’s Fate Was Left Up for Grabs
Parallel to Lexi’s storyline in the final two episodes runs a semi-related thread that takes place entirely in Fezco’s house. Drug dealer Custer (Tyler Chase) arrives and records on his phone as he informs Fezco, Ashtray (Javon Walton), and Fay (Chloe Cherry) that the police found the body of fellow drug dealer Mouse, whom Ashtray killed at the end of the first season. Fay, who was made aware of the trap by Custer, tells Fezco to be quiet and instead blames Mouse’s murder on Laurie. As Custer protests, Ashtray stabs him in the neck before Fezco can stop him.
Fezco then tells Ashtray to leave the house and that he’ll take the blame for the murder, but Ashtray fortifies himself in the bathroom with a pair of rifles. As the police break in, Ashtray fires through the door and hits Fezco in the stomach. Fezco begs Ashtray to surrender, but he instead shoots a cop before being shot and presumably killed. The last time we see Fezco, he’s being arrested, bleeding profusely from his stomach wound.