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Good things come to those who wait. But for critics, the new season of "Euphoria" just wasn't worth the holdup.
Sam Levinson's HBO teen drama, which launched show lead Zendaya to superstardom alongside castmates Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi and Hunter Schafer, will return to TV screens on Sunday, April 12, for its much-anticipated third season.
The latest installment of the Emmy-winning series comes after the show reportedly faced a number of production delays, including the 2023 Hollywood actors and screenwriters strikes. In March 2024, HBO announced that it was permitting the series' cast to pursue other acting jobs amid the long wait for Season 3.
Set five years after the events of Season 2, the new season offers a more grown-up look, depicting its cast of eccentric characters as twentysomethings. Zendaya's Rue works as an indentured servant for drug dealer Laurie (Martha Kelly), while Cassie (Sweeney) and Nate (Elordi) navigate serious coupledom with their engagement.
"Euphoria" became a TV darling and pop cultural lightning rod thanks to its frank take on adolescent life, including its graphic portrayals of sexuality and drug use.
"Attention-demanding things that played as extreme and terrifying when they were happening to teenagers simply become 'things' when the protagonists are in their 20s," Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter wrote. "Heightened ideas that played as gloriously melodramatic and precariously edgy expressed through high-schoolers barely count as 'ideas' when run through a 20-something prism."
Here's what else critics are saying about Season 3 of "Euphoria."
"Euphoria," once known for its heart-pounding drama, seems to have become something of a snoozefest.
With the exception of Rue's character arc, which includes a search for moral clarity through religion, the show's plot is now "maddeningly inert," says Ben Travers of IndieWire.
"While Rue's position is fixed, season after season, her struggle to break free makes her compelling," wrote Travers, who gave the new season a "C-" rating.
"Most characters aren't changing, nor are their motivations to change clear to them or novel to us. The result is a start to the supposedly final season that grows old instead of up, while evoking a once-unthinkable question: How could 'Euphoria' become boring?"
Zendaya led the stars who wowed on the red carpet for HBO's "Euphoria." Season 3 was unveiled with a gala premiere on April 7, 2026, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. See who else stepped out.
Even with the forward-looking time lapse offered by Season 3, BBC News writer Caryn James lamented that "Euphoria" no longer has its "zeitgeisty edge."
"'Euphoria' has become a series with very little to say, none of it very audacious or compelling," wrote James, who gave the show a two-star rating. "It is a strained attempt to make the closed circle of friends it follows, now in their early 20s, somehow the same only different."
Cassie's titillating new gig leaves much to be desired.
Some critics panned the professional pursuits of Sweeney's character, who works as an adult content creator in Season 3. Belen Edwards of Mashable called the depiction of Sweeney's occupation, which includes backlash from Cassie's loved ones, an "over-sexualized humiliation gauntlet."
"'Euphoria' doesn't interrogate these biases or examine the intricacies of sex work further," Edwards wrote. "Instead, it's happy to keep the shame coming, using Cassie's aspirations as a springboard from which it can launch suggestive images designed to stir up the most controversy."
"While I clearly feel some of that outrage the show is gunning for," Edwards added, "what I feel more is exasperation. Exasperation that a show with such incredible potential and such undeniable talent in front of and behind the camera, keeps opting for lazy shocks."
New York Post TV reporter Lauren Sarner, who dubbed the new season an "unhinged disaster," echoed the sentiment, writing, "If there's a loftier point to be made beyond the camera ogling [Cassie], it's nowhere to be seen."
Despite critics' disdain for the Season 3 storylines, Zendaya earned praise for her performance and command of the season, with The Hollywood Reporter's Fienberg calling her a "marvel."
"After all this time, I'm still not convinced that Rue is a good or interesting character — Levinson leans so heavily into self-destructive tropes for the character that any native personality beyond 'addict' gets lost — but watching that light go on and off in Zendaya's eyes is always impressive."
Zendaya's costar Sweeney was also lauded for her renewed portrayal of Cassie, whose hypersexual femininity made "The Housemaid" actress a breakout star.
"Even if her character may not make much sense anymore ... Sweeney gets a lot to work with, like a long-awaited confrontation with her former best friend Maddy (Alexa Demie), and rises to the occasion," Variety's Alison Herman wrote. "'Euphoria' seems to unlock something in Sweeney, just as the tomboyish, deadpan-but-sensitive Rue remains one of Zendaya's signature roles."
