Storm Reid Is Disappointed, But Not Surprised by ‘Euphoria’ Season 3 Delay

The prolonged road to Euphoria season three—which HBO and creator Sam Levinson “remain committed to making,” as a network spokesperson previously told Variety—hasn’t come as a total shock to some of the show’s cast members. Last week, one anonymous Euphoria actor publicly doubted that the show would return at all, telling the Daily Beast, “Since January of 2022, we have had a start date of March that turned into June, that turned into January. And then they kept pushing every month from then on. It was two full years of HBO telling all the actors we were going back soon, so we couldn’t take some jobs.” The source added, “I just don’t think it will happen.”

Storm Reid, who plays Gia Bennett, the wise-beyond-her-years younger sister to Zendaya’s turbulent Rue, has been also somewhat unfazed by the wait. “We would all hope to be able to go back tomorrow, but there are logistics that have to be figured out,” she recently told Variety. “So even though I’m a little disappointed, I’m not surprised.” But Reid is also taking a more optimistic approach to the likelihood of a third season than her unnamed co-star. “I would hope the viewers, the audience, will be able to finish the show,” she said. “I think we should handle the show with care. We’ve put our hearts and souls into it.”

According to another recent Variety story, the series’ now delayed next installment has been in creative disarray. Levinson reportedly pitched early drafts of his third season concept—a five-year time-jump for the characters—to HBO in the winter of 2023. Although the network found the pitch, which involved “very compelling” arcs for stars Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi, to be “a strong start,” a similarly strong storyline was harder to come by for Zendaya. After winning Emmys for both of the show’s first two seasons, Zendaya reportedly found that Levinson’s latest scripts “didn’t pass muster,” as Variety put it. (Vanity Fair has previously reached out to Zendaya for comment).

With Levinson back to the drawing board, HBO has relinquished its “in-demand cast to pursue other opportunities,” the network confirmed to Variety this month. That includes Zendaya, Anyone but You’s Sweeney, Saltburn’s Elordi, recent Rustin Oscar nominee Colman Domingo, and Reid herself—who, while on hiatus from Euphoria, won the best guest actress in a drama Emmy for playing Riley Abel, a friend and crush of Bella Ramsey’s character on HBO’s The Last of Us.

“I just hope that there’s a little bit more light and levity and grace and happiness in season three,” Reid told Vanity Fair of Euphoria’s eventual return in January 2023. “We have covered the full spectrum of emotion. So I think it’s time for some joy and I hope that Gia gets her moment to actually blossom into a real young human that is growing and that is affected by Rue’s antics. So you never know where that’s going to go, but hopefully she does get her own episode and we get to explore how she feels a little bit more.”