When Euphoria first glitter-bombed its approach onto our screens in 2019, jaws collectively dropped. Created by Sam Levinson, it was an audacious melodrama that cracked open the x-rated lives of suburban teenagers with giddy digicam work, sparkly eye make-up and hormonal meltdowns. Specializing in teenage drug addict Rue, performed by Zendaya, and her boundary-pushing adolescent friends, it was daring in each approach: unflinching in its exploration of dependancy, abuse and violent crime, unafraid of full frontal nudity and graphic intercourse and prepared to take inventive dangers just like the beautiful musical quantity that ended sequence one. Watching it was typically exhilarating and generally exhausting.
However the place as soon as Euphoria was one of the vital talked about reveals on tv, the information this week that its third season will shortly start filming has been met with a combined and muted response. When manufacturing resumes – in January, in line with current feedback from HBO’s Casey Bloys – it will likely be three years for the reason that premiere of season two and sure one other yr (a minimum of) earlier than new episodes make it to viewers.
For a present that made its identify by depicting lovely messiness, there may be an irony that it’s the behind-the-scenes messiness which may be its undoing. The lengthy wait between sequence has been peppered with headlines about inventive variations, character clashes and script rewrites. The place Levinson was as soon as one in all TV’s most enjoyable skills, he’s now tainted by the catastrophe of The Idol, his catastrophic 2023 sequence that starred The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp. Not solely was it a important and business flop but in addition the topic of a damning Rolling Stone investigation that alleged a poisonous work atmosphere.
Teased by HBO Max as a darker and much more risqué Euphoria, The Idol adopted troubled pop star Jocelyn (Depp), who finds herself within the “sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood” with sordid cult chief Tedros (The Weeknd).
With nameless claims to the outlet evaluating Levinson’s new story to “torture porn” and alleging the set’s atmosphere was chaotic and poorly managed, the director was put beneath scrutiny once more.
In a press release despatched to The Impartial responding to claims about The Idol, HBO stated on the time: “The creators and producers of The Idol have been working hard to create one of HBO’s most exciting and provocative original programs.
“The initial approach on the show and production of the early episodes, unfortunately, did not meet HBO standards so we chose to make a change.
“Throughout the process, the creative team has been committed to creating a safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful working environment, and last year, the team made creative changes they felt were in the best interest of both the production and the cast and crew.”
Again at Euphoria, there have been comparable sad murmurings over Levinson’s autocratic method – rumours that he and Zendaya had fallen out and controversy over Barbie Ferreira whose character barely appeared in season two and who subsequently introduced she can be leaving the present (claiming the choice was “mutual”). There have been broad stories that Levinson’s concepts for the third sequence (which apparently included Rue turning into a non-public investigator) had been poorly acquired by its star and by HBO.
