Warning: Spoilers ahead! Do not proceed unless you’ve watched the Season 3 finale of “Euphoria.”
“Euphoria” is over, and good riddance to its bizarre third and final season.
It’s the end of an era for Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, and Sydney Sweeney. The show launched three of today’s biggest superstars, and they all acknowledge that they grew up on it.
Aside from the cast, however, this also marks the end of the era of the “auteur” TV creator.
The edgy HBO drama was Sam Levinson’s singular vision. He was its creator / writer / director, and didn’t have a writers’ room. That’s becoming a rarity.
Auteur filmmakers are still booming on the big screen: Wes Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Emerald Fennell, Robert Eggers.
They all have well-known sensibilities, themes, styles. Just stating any of their names signals what kind of moviegoing experience you’re in for.
Saying, “I’m watching a Sam Levinson show” comes with a similar set of expectations.
That’s not true for another recent hit, “The Pitt,” which has a traditional writers’ room. Not to discount the medical drama’s creator, R. Scott Gemmill‘s work, but nobody talks about him in the same way.
“Heated Rivalry” became a phenomenon because of the two lead performances. The man behind the curtain, Jacob Tierney, has rightfully been lauded, but his name doesn’t carry the same weight, either.
The idea of a TV show coming from a single artist has been floundering for years.
When “True Detective” Season 1 became a sensation in 2014, its creator, Nic Pizzolatto, was hailed as the Next Big Thing…until that fizzled out.
His time on the throne was short, as he disgraced himself with the universally panned second season. That show is still on, but the acclaimed fourth season (which aired in 2024) had a different captain steering the ship (Issa Lopez).
When “Euphoria” first premiered in 2019, Levinson also demonstrated the pitfalls of a TV show as a one-man army.
It had a notoriously troubled production, with allegations of a “toxic” work environment, countless behind the scenes dramas and scandals, and a delayed production, with four years between Seasons 2 and 3.
Would things have been different, if more people were in charge? It’s hard to say, but a democracy is always better than a dictatorship.
There are still big names out there on the small screen.
Take Taylor Sheridan, for example. Similar to Levinson, he’s got a reputation for a “lone ranger” approach.
The “Yellowstone” creator has publicly scoffed at the idea of collaborating with other writers — telling The Hollywood Reporter, “I will tell my stories my way” — and he’s usually also wearing multiple hats: writing, directing, producing.
But lately, Sheridan has delegated both “Yellowstone” spinoffs “Dutton Ranch” and “Marshals” to other showrunners.
He has various levels of involvement in his other shows, including “Landman,” “Tulsa King,” and “The Madison.” He’s not singlehandedly manning them all.
When Sheridan was handling “Yellowstone” more like a one-man army, similar to Levinson, the show got overshadowed by behind the scenes drama, feud rumors, and delays.
It’s almost like it’s a pattern.
Other big names like Ryan Murphy and Shonda Rhimes have TV empires. When “Love Story” became a hit in the spring, it was billed as a “Ryan Murphy” show, but it was created by Connor Hines. It wasn’t Murphy’s singular artist vision.
“Bridgerton” is also often referred to as, “a Shonda Rhimes show,” but it’s also not a solo act; it’s gone through various showrunners. Mindy Kaling’s shows are similar.
The idea of the “auteur TV creator” isn’t completely dead, the way Rue (Zendaya) and Nate (Elordi) are on “Euphoria” (too soon?).
“Baby Reindeer” and “Half Man” creator/star Richard Gadd and “The White Lotus” creator Mike White are both keeping the concept limping forward. Like Levinson, White doesn’t use a writers’ room, either.
It still means something if you say, “I’m watching a Vince Gilligan show,” or “a Duffer Brothers show.”
Increasingly, today there are shows that feel like singular visions from one specific voice, even when they have writers rooms (like “Severance” or “Your Friends and Neighbors”).
At its best, “Euphoria” could demonstrate what a show from a singular artistic mind feels like. It could be dazzling, unique, cinematic. There was a reason it launched three of today’s biggest stars, and there’s a reason that everyone has been talking about Season 3, even when it’s bad.
At its worst, however, it feels like “Euphoria” was made by one self-indulgent guy who had too many cheerleaders, and not enough people saying, “No. No, maybe we shouldn’t spend time zooming in on a stripper’s butt, instead of giving Hunter Schafer a real plot.”
“Euphoria” ushered in a new era of movie stars. It also dealt a well-earned blow to the idea that a TV show should hail from one single “artistic genius.”
Maybe that notion should be buried in the desert — alongside Nate.
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