Euphoria Season 2: see the cast and watch the trailer

With its graphic and some say excessive portrayal of teenage sex and drug use, the first season of HBO’s Euphoria in 2019 was highly controversial. Nevertheless, it won critical acclaim for its cinematography, story and score, as well as its two main stars, Zendaya as Rue and Hunter Schafer as Jules. With numerous award nominations across categories from acting to music and costumes, Zendaya won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series.

At the centre of the “teen” drama series is Rue, troubled by mental health issues and drug addiction. Fresh out of rehab, she heads straight to her friend and dealer Fezco. Transgender girl Jules is new in town and the two meet at a party.

Also at this party – an introduction to viewers of the other characters in the cast – are McKay (he’s the host), his girlfriend Cassie, football jock and all-round jerk Nate, his recent ex Maddy (also Cassie’s best friend), and Kat, who is fuller-figured in a world of skinny bitches. Euphoria not only deals with adolescent issues like sex and drugs, but also things like bullying and fat-shaming. Kat’s best line in the series is in episode 5 when she is walking through a mall in her newfound confidence, utterly gorgeous, to the backing track of Billie Eilish’s You Should See Me In a Crown: “There’s nothing more powerful than a fat girl who doesn’t give a f*ck!” 

Perhaps we should mention, Euphoria uses a lot of strong language too.

At episode 1’s party, Jules and Nate have a confrontation (putting it mildly) after which she and Rue leave together, the beginning of their lasting connection, and also an incredibly complicated situation between Jules and Nate. Over the next seven episodes, the multifaceted relationships and dynamics between these core characters – their loves, their friendships, their betrayals, their hopes, their fears, their insecurities – play out. But Euphoria doesn’t want you to zone out and gloss over these often tortured and troubled kids; the backstories are important too.

“One of the most interesting things about HBO’s Euphoria is the way the show dives into the backstories of each main character. All but one episode in the first season opened by detailing what various characters had been through before the series actually premiered. For the most part, these were very tragic,” said Screen Rant.

While it’s often shocking and eye-opening, even horrific at times, Euphoria is a snapshot of a generation that cannot be ignored. “Regardless of whether your teenage years were spent drinking cider in a field, playing video games online with friends, studying hard to master a musical instrument or, as here, dissecting brutal sexual experiences in a culture of constant surveillance, there is a fundamental truth shared by almost everyone: adolescence is horribly cruel, and sweetly naive, in ever-shifting combinations of the two. If there’s one thing Euphoria understands perfectly, it’s that,” said The Guardian – which, incidentally, headlined the first episode of Season 2 as having “far too much nudity, sex and violence”.

Euphoria: Who’s who

Central to Euphoria are Rue and Jules, who lead the main cast. Rue is played by Zendaya, who made the leap from Disney to drug addict by way of movies The Greatest Showman and Spiderman: Homecoming (and we’re totally here for her real-life romance with Tom Holland). With such diverse roles on her CV, no wonder she is the youngest recipient of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

Euphoria was Hunter Schafer’s acting debut, and she shares a writing credit for Jules’s special episode F*ck Anyone Who’s Not A Sea Blob.

Fezco, Rue’s friend and drug dealer, is played by Angus Cloud. He lives life on the wrong side of the law but he has his own set of morals and ethics, in a weird way, and just because that’s his path doesn’t mean he’s cold and uncaring. He has feelings, too. We learn his backstory, as well as that of his little brother Ashtray (Javon “Wanna” Walton) in the first episode of Season 2. Spoiler: it’s heart-rending.

Nate Jacobs. Well, here is an almost entirely unsympathetic character, played by Jacob Elordi. He’s the quintessential sports jock and handsome popular guy, but he’s a despicable bully. The only thing that can redeem him is that he is a product of his circumstances, and confused about his sexuality. However, it’s difficult to excuse his behaviour.

Maddy (Alexa Demi) is his sort of ex girlfriend and all-round HBIC; Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) is her best friend, who is involved with Chris McKay – or just McKay – played by Algee Smith, and the couple have to deal with very adult emotions and decisions in Season 1.

Barbie Ferreira plays Kat, who, although she takes charge of her life, deals with low self-esteem, which leads to destructive behaviour patterns. Changing that is Ethan (Austin Abrams), who genuinely crushes on her, and we’ll see more of him in Season 2.

Also in Season 2, we meet a new character, Elliot, played by Dominic Fike. He and Rue meet at the episode 1 New Year’s Eve party and bond over drugs in the laundry room.

Release date

Euphoria Season 2 premiered on HBO Max on 9 January 2022, drawing 2.4 million viewers across all its platforms, making it the strongest digital premiere performance of any HBO episode on HBO Max since the streaming service’s launch last May.

On Showmax, the season premiered on 10 January 2022 and new episodes will be available every Monday following their US airing, concluding at the end of February. Given that the second season was greenlit even before the first one ended, we should know very soon whether we can expect a third.

Watch the trailer

Most of what’s teased in the Season 2 trailer are scenes from episode 1, which, if you’ve already watched, you’ll know have been edited to tell a somewhat different story, but no less titillating or enticing. Future clips include Cassie having a fashion meltdown and no doubt an identity crisis, and Maddy admiring her flat belly in the mirror and contemplating looking sexy if she was pregnant…

Euphoria can never be accused of being funny but the bit where Rue is in the back seat of the car outside the drug dealer’s apartment with a space cadet junkie is darkly that. “How’s your New Year?” asks Rue politely. “It’s New Year?” says the girl with alarmingly big lips. She groans and lies back: “My boyfriend never tells me anything.”

Rue’s face is one that tells us she’s met a junkie who is even junkier than her.

Episodes

Like Season 1, Season 2 of Euphoria will have eight episodes. At the time of writing, the first – titled Trying to Get to Heaven Before They Close the Door – had aired. HBO plays its synopsis cards very close to its chest so all we can tell you at the moment are the titles of the next two episodes. What will happen is anyone’s guess.

Episode 2 (17 January): Out Of Touch

Episode 3 (23 January): Ruminations: Big and Little Bullys (sic)

Episodes 4-8: TBC

Ahead of the season launch, Zendaya posted a message on Instagram and Twitter to fans warning them about what lies ahead. “I know I’ve said this before, but I do want to reiterate to everyone that Euphoria is for mature audiences. This season, maybe even more so than the last, is deeply emotional and deals with subject matter that can be triggering and difficult to watch.

“Please only watch it if you feel comfortable. Take care of yourself and know that either way you are still loved and I can still feel your support. All my love, Daya.”

Season 2 is now streaming on Showmax with new episodes every Monday, the day after its US premiere on Sundays. Season 1 is available to binge, as are the two special standalone episodes from December 2020 and January 2021. The first is primarily a conversation between Rue and her sponsor Ali, and the second is Jules’s therapy session in which she talks about Rue, and drops a bombshell about her transition. It’s not essential to watch these two episodes, which stylistically are slow moving and pensive, but they do offer deeper insight into Rue and Jules’s relationship and states of mind, as well as more details of their backstories.

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