Euphoria’s first season ends on a surreal, devastating cliffhanger: a heartbroken Rue Bennett (Zendaya) relapses after months of sobriety, and immediately afterwards, a dreamlike scene shows her falling into a crowd of faceless dancers. It was always safe to assume the HBO drama wouldn’t actually cut Rue’s story short (or let go of an Emmy-winning star), but it’s official — Rue is alive, Zendaya is back, and the rest of Euphoria’s cast isn’t going anywhere.
Even though it won’t air until sometime next year at the earliest, we actually know a lot about season 2. The coming episodes will likely explore Rue’s recovery, Maddy’s (Alexa Demie) breakup with Nate (Jacob Elordi), and Kat’s (Barbie Ferreira) new romantic relationship. Fans also worried about the fate of lovable drug dealer Fezco (Angus Cloud) after he landed himself in a precarious position in the finale, but earlier this year, Euphoria’s Twitter account confirmed he’ll be back for the second season.
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Zendaya, who has called the next installment “beautiful,” told InStyle that the cast was about to begin filming when the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down in March. “We did camera tests and hair and makeup tests, and we got to see everybody and […] the sets were built,” she said, adding that production will now have to wait until 2021. But in the meantime, HBO is surprising fans with two special episodes. The first, available to stream Friday on HBO Max, will pick up shortly after the season 1 finale.
Before you reunite with Rue, here’s everything to know about which cast members will be returning (and joining) next season.
Zendaya and Hunter Schafer will return for two “bridge” episodes.
The first of Euphoria’s two special episodes, “Trouble Won’t Last Always,” will center around Rue as she struggles with the events of the season 1 finale. HBO confirmed that Jules (Schafer) will also appear, though it’s unclear if we’ll have to wait until season 2 to see the rest of the cast.
The full season 1 cast will be back for season 2.
Despite his open-ended final scene in season 1, lovable drug dealer Fezco (Angus Cloud) will return for season 2. Sydney Sweeney also confirmed that she will be reprising her role as Cassie Howard, and teased a heavy storyline. “Cassie definitely goes through the wringer again,” she told NME. Other returning characters will include Kat Hernandez (Barbie Ferreira), Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie), Gia Bennett (Storm Reid), Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi), and Lexi Howard (Maude Apatow).
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There will be some new characters.
According to a January post from casting news site Project Casting, at least four new speaking characters will join Euphoria’s ensemble. Only one new actor has officially been announced, though: The High Note and The Photograph actor Kelvin Harrison, Jr. We know virtually nothing about his character as of yet, but he’s definitely given fans some pretty high expectations. “I’ve never seen a character like this, period,” Harrison told Complex’s Watch Less podcast. “I can almost argue that it has not been done. It’s interesting, it is definitely a character of the time.”
Storm Reid will play a bigger role in season 2.
In season 1, we mostly see Rue’s younger sister, Gia, in the specific context of Rue’s home life. But now that her character is starting to grow up, Reid told Entertainment Tonight that viewers will see Gia “developing and becoming her own.” She added, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “I feel like you’ll be seeing a lot more Gia in the second season.” Maybe she’ll even get an episode of her own?
Maude Apatow might play a bigger role, too.
Like Gia, Lexi hasn’t gotten an episode exploring her backstory yet — but Apatow has hinted that her character will also get some screen time. “There definitely is some evolution in the coming season,” she told Rolling Stone. “Obviously, I’m sworn to secrecy, but…”