Euphoria Season 2 - What We Know So Far

If you loved Euphoria's explosive first season, you're in luck; the next installment of HBO's edgy teen series will come to the small screen before too long.

On the heels of star Zendaya's history-making win at the 2020 Emmy Awards — at just 24, the ingenue became the youngest ever winner in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama category — fans are clamoring for more Euphoria, and it's easy to understand why. The drama, helmed by creator and showrunner Sam Levinson, tells the story of a group of teenagers headed by Rue (Zendaya), a recovering addict struggling to navigate her teenage years, and it proved such a success that HBO renewed it for a second season before the first even concluded. With young actors of color and solid LGBTQ+ representation — Jules, a transgender character whose portrayal is as raw as it is thoughtful, is played by trans actress Hunter Schafer – Euphoria is truly a show of its time, and with last season ending on multiple cliffhangers, it makes sense that fans want answers sooner rather than later. Here's everything we know so far about Euphoria's upcoming second season.

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed Euphoria's production schedule, HBO's head of programming, Casey Bloys, told Deadline shortly after the Emmys that production on the series is expected to resume in early 2021. Hopefully, this means that Euphoria will return to the small screen by the end of 2021 at the earliest and during 2022 at the latest.

Bloys also confirmed that, due to the delay, Euphoria will do a COVID-19 episode, which Zendaya confirmed during an August interview with Jimmy Kimmel, as Deadline reported. "We might end up doing a little bridge episode," the starlet told Kimmel this summer. "I don't really know how to describe it, but an episode that we can do with a limited amount of people in a safer environment ... so we have something to live on until we are able to go into Season 2." Shortly after that interview, Zendaya posted a photo of Rue's recognizable Converse kicks to her Instagram story, potentially indicating that she's already back at work, or at least ready to be back on set.

Obviously, it's a no-brainer that Zendaya, after winning an Emmy for the show, will return to Euphoria as Rue in the leading role. Apart from that, nothing is set in stone just yet, but viewers can probably expect Schafer, Barbie Ferreira (as Kat), Jacob Elordi (as Nate), Sydney Sweeney (as Cassie), Alexa Demie (as Maddy), Maude Apatow (as Lexi), and Storm Reid (as Gia) to return for the second season.

Besides Zendaya, Schafer seems like the surest bet to return based on an Entertainment Weekly interview after the first season. Despite the fact that Jules ends the season by running away, Schafer discussed where she'd like her character to go in the future. As Schafer put it, "I think I want to continue to see Jules work on herself in that she's still got some major issues, and to continue to dissect that and feel it out. I think she learns from experiencing things. And so to experience what she needs to, without being messy, that's from the sort of loving parent/sister relationship I feel like I have with her. That's what I want for her, although who knows how it will play out. I'm sure it will be more messy than I would hope for her."

Though Zendaya revealed that Levinson has crafted a "beautiful" second season in conversation with InStyle in August of 2020, no concrete plot details are available yet. We can, however, assume that after Rue's relapse, the character will face an all-new struggle this time around. Levinson, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, confirmed that Rue definitely didn't die, but will need to find the strength to overcome her addiction.

"I think Rue has a big journey ahead of her, and a tough one," Levinson said to THR in 2019. "It's not something I want to cut short because of who Rue means to me as someone who has battled with addiction and come out the other side, and because I think that there's a lot more to delve into and unpack in terms of the effects of addiction on Rue and on her family and those around her. The possibilities are endless in many ways."

It's unfortunate that audiences have had to wait even longer for Euphoria's second season, but fortunately, it's clear that whenever it airs on HBO, it will have been worth the wait.