Euphoria will make its much-awaited return in 2026. Yes, you read that correctly. Fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing they will get some much-deserved answers about Lexi’s (Maude Apatow) satirical play, Cassie’s (Sydney Sweeney) and Maddie’s (Alexa Demie) friendship blowup, and Rue’s (Zendaya) path to sobriety. Warner Bros Discovery global streaming chief JB Perrette confirmed the 2026 Season Three premiere date during a tech and media conference on Tuesday.

In the months (and months, and months, and months) leading up to the announcement, the cast of the hit HBO show has done their best to dodge questions about the series’ anticipated return. When asked about it on talk shows, red carpets, and in other interviews, Jacob Elordi, Sweeney, Hunter Schafer, and more have given a resounding “we don’t know anything” answer, leading fans to believe that they’re in the dark just like the rest of us. Zendaya, who stars as the beating heart of the series, even told Vanity Fair in November that she’s been “just waiting” for news about Season Three’s script and release date, pushing away suspicions that her busy schedule has led to the delays. 

And the cast has felt the gap between seasons. As previously reported, Season Three will include a time jump from where Season Two left off, so viewers can also expect the cast to have aged out of their high school personas. Jacob Elordi, who stars as Nate, joked on The Tonight Show earlier this year that the crew may have to “Benjamin Button” him for the show’s return. “I’m going to have a bad back walking down the hallway,” he told Jimmy Fallon.

While the wait for Season Three continues, here’s what we know about the teen drama’s upcoming season, from what caused the delays to returning cast members and expected plot lines. 

Why was it delayed?
Euphoria has been plagued by cursed timelines from the start. Following Season One’s June 2019 premiere date, the show’s production schedule has experienced a slew of delays. For starters, the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the Season Two premiere to 2022. Then, Levinson took a break to pursue another project for HBO, Idol, the Lily-Rose Depp, and The Weeknd-starring show, which premiered in June 2023 (after its own set of delays, of course). Last year’s dual actors and writers union strikes also left writers’ rooms and sets of major streamers and Hollywood studios vacant for months as the respective unions bargained for artificial intelligence protections, higher residuals, and fair wages.

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The unexpected death of star Angus Cloud, who played Fezco, who died in July 2023 at the age of 25 from an accidental overdose, also rocked the cast and crew. Although the streamer never tied any specific delays to Cloud’s death, the cast talked openly about the difficulty they had processing their costar’s death. The Season Two finale left several open-ended questions for Fezco’s fate following the end of Season Two: After murder suspicions lead the S.W.A.T team to his home, his brother Ash dies in the crossfire, and Fezco suffers gunshot wounds and is carried out by officers.

“Words can’t really capture how magical of a person he was. My heart is broken,” Apatow expressed in an Instagram post days after his death. “Angus, getting to know and work with you was one of the greatest joys and blessings of my life. I will love you forever.”

Back in March, HBO revealed that a projection for the Euphoria premiere date had been postponed, and the scripts for Season Three were still being workshopped. But the streaming giant stressed to Variety that Levinson was still “committed” to developing a third season and that, in the interim, it would allow their cast to “pursue other opportunities.”

Weren’t there rumors the show was canceled?
Yes, but they were proven to be just that: rumors. An HBO spokesperson shot down claims that the show was quietly canceled in November. “Euphoria is going in to production in 2025. Nothing has changed,” the rep said, per The Guardian. 

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Who will return to the cast?
Euphoria turned many of its show regulars into stars, making its production scheduling all the more complicated. Sweeney took on roles in the romantic comedy Anyone But You, the Spider-Man-adjacent film Madame Web, and the religious horror flick Immaculate, and even landed herself a hosting gig on Saturday Night Live. Notably, Zendaya worked on the blockbuster films Dune: Part Two and Challengers with her series counterpart Schafer spearheading a slasher film of her own, Cuckoo, along with a small role in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness this year. In 2023, Elordi played the “King of Rock’n’ Roll” in A24’s Priscilla and a leading role in the heavily-discussed Saltburn. 

Their bingo cards have already begun to fill up in the coming years, with Elordi slated to star in Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights and Zendaya returning for Dune: Messiah. 

With that being said, we can expect the bulk of the melancholy drama’s principal cast to return for Season Three: Zendaya as Rue, Schafer as Jules, Apatow as Lexi, Sweeney as Cassie, Demie as Maddy, and Elordi as Nate.

But the new season will have to work without Cloud, and Barbie Ferreira, who played Kat, stepped away from the series back in August 2022 after butting heads with Levinson about her character’s direction. Last month, Storm Reid, who starred as Rue’s younger sister Gia, revealed she would not be returning for a third season but expressed gratitude for becoming a part of the “cultural phenomenon” that is Euphoria.

When will production resume?
Euphoria is slated to begin filming in January 2025. HBO executive Francesca Orsi expressed her excitement with the show’s return to The Hollywood Reporter in July, saying, “I am thrilled that we are ready to begin production on Euphoria in January. We could not be happier with our creative partnership with Sam and this incredible cast. We look forward to bringing this new season of Euphoria to life for the fans.” The show’s early 2025 production start date helps explain its 2026 return.

What can we expect from Season Three?
Aside from the time jump, the cast of Euphoria and HBO executives have given fans very few clues about the direction of the next season. Zendaya told The Hollywood Reporter back in August 2022 what she had hoped to see in the show’s third chapter. “I want to see what Rue looks like in her sobriety journey, how chaotic that might look,” she said. “But also with all the characters, in the sense where they’re trying to figure out what to do with their lives when high school is over and what kind of people they want to be. What was special about this season was that we got to dive into [the other characters] in a much deeper sense. I think we can do that again with the third season.”

In September 2023, Levinson told Elle the third installment would resemble a “film noir.” As for Zendaya’s Rue, Levinson said her character will “explore what it means to be an individual with principles in a corrupt world.” Only time will tell.