Production on the hit HBO show has just begun
When Euphoria hit our screens last summer, it rewrote the script on what a teen drama could and should look like. The show depicts the more fluid sexuality of Gen Z in what felt like a truly reflective and no-fuss way, putting both a queer storyline and a trans lead character (played by Dazed cover star Hunter Schafer) front and centre.
It also provides a pretty accurate depiction of drug-taking, slut-shaming, the pressures of porn, hook up apps, high school drama and the ensuing emotional chaos that is being a teenager. Plus, you know, it’s exec produced by Drake and has the best soundtrack ever.
No wonder then, that we have been endlessly curious and excited for season two, which is rumoured to drop this summer. So far, information on the second series has been scarce. We know that the producers ran an open casting call for new characters, and that Azaelia Banks sent an audition tape.
Beyond that, we have known very little until this week, when the Euphoria Instagram account posted a photo from the set of season two with the caption: “here we go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The photo shows Zendaya, who plays Euphoria’s protagonist, the recovering addict Rue, with co-actor Angus Cloud, who plays your friendly neighbourhood drug dealer Fezco. The two seem to be learning their scripts, suggesting that shooting is either underway or about to start.
Ok, so it doesn’t tell us much. But it does tell us that Rue probably survived the relapse overdose she seemed to have at the end of season one, and it suggests that Rue and Fez have scenes together, potentially resolving their differences from season one.
Storm Reid, who recently opened for Miu Miu AW20, and plays Rue’s sister in the show, told Entertainment Weekly of Rue’s overdose: “Our whole show is for your own interpretation, and I did see the things where people ask me if she was deceased or not, or if she had relapsed in the last episode. I feel like again, it’s for your own interpretation, and the questions that you may have specifically about the eighth episode will be answered in the first couple of episodes of season two.”
Barbie Ferreira, who plays Kat, also loosely suggested a queer storyline for her character, in an interview with Out magazine. “I feel like in my personal life I’ve been gay as hell,” she said, coming out as queer last summer. “I think Kat’s a little queer... but that might be my perspective.”
Other than these torturously ambiguous quotes, we don’t have much else to go on as to what’s in store for the characters we already know. However, from the casting call, we know what to expect from the new ones.
We will get Ray: “Working class. Pure heart. Scrappy but a fighter.” Ami: “Drug addict. Stripper. Talks shit. Can’t read a room.” Darian: “Male. 18+ to play 17. Any ethnicity. An outsider. Sensitive. Vulnerable. Mischievous. Could struggle with addiction. Definitely not the cool kid at school but one of the more interesting kids.”
And finally, Serena: “Female. 50s+, Caucasian. Sassy and tough. A real character. The kind of woman who partied her whole life and attended every Whitesnake concert and now she has several different hustles just to make a living.”