Euphoria season 3 premiered on HBO on Sunday, April 13, with more plotlines that pushed the envelope.
The first episode of the season opened with Rue Bennett (Zendaya), working as a drug mule for Laurie (Martha Kelly), after she racked up a huge drug debt following an accidental suitcase flush of drugs. To be exact, Rue owed Laurie $43 million, but Laurie settled for $100,000.
Elsewhere, Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) and Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) are cooped up in a suburban dream, with Nate managing his dad, Cal Jacobs' (Eric Dane) construction business, while Cassie is trying her luck (and failing) at being an influencer.
Episode 1 does well to introduce where the characters are post-five-year time jump. Still, the route Sam Levinson seems to be going down is moving away from troubled and relatable adolescent struggles toward something that belongs in a Tarantino movie. With the change in tone, the premiere offered us some possible hints as to where the characters may end up, so follow along for the ride.
1. Rue is going to die
If the season premiere suggested anything, it's that Rue is going to die. She's been toeing the line between life and death for years, having been a teenage drug addict, having almost overdosed, and still, from what we can tell, she's heavily involved in drugs. I find it very hard to believe a drug mule is completely sober, unless she's California-sober.
Still, the last scene of episode 1 paints a darker picture. Rue gets in trouble with a pimp named Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) when she's delivering drugs by dancing with his girls. She expresses her frustrations, saying coming to the club where he operates was like God bringing her and the girl she spoke to together, a.k.a to a new job away from Laurie. In response, Brown says he'll test God's belief in her. He does so by taking her to a remote location and shooting an apple she balances on her head. No, this really happened.
The apple scene is foreshadowing Rue's fate in season 3. That, and her newfound belief in God, show she may be turning a new leaf in wanting more for herself, but she's still haunted by her past actions. She survives a bullet by the skin of her teeth when the apple is hit instead of her, which is a metaphor for how she's been living these past years—on the edge and surviving by the skin of her teeth. She's only alive because Laurie agreed to a settlement with her, and her unknowingly mentioning God to the pimp is a lucky break, since he also mentions his belief in God before she does, and bonds with her on that.
Also, with one of the pimp's girls dying from Laurie's drugs, it can hint that if Rue continues on the path she's on, she could end up like her. Not from taking the drugs, but from being around them and all of those people involved in the dark world of drug cartels and crime.
2. Maddy is planning some kind of revenge on Cassie
Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie) has long been a Euphoria fan favorite, but season 3 looks set to be her moment of revenge.
We learn that Maddy is now working in management at a popular agency, handling influencers and rising talent. While she is clearly earning well, it is not quite enough to match her ambitions, hinting that she may be quietly plotting her next move to secure something bigger.
The season 3 trailer reveals that Maddy Perez is back in touch with Cassie and is planning to help manage her OnlyFans. Yes, Cassie has quietly soft-launched an account. Maddy may need money, but it is hard to believe that someone who was once so confrontational would agree to manage her former best friend, especially after Cassie’s secret relationship and now engagement with her abusive ex-boyfriend. The last time we saw Maddy, she was physically confronting Cassie over that betrayal, so the sudden shift raises a bigger question: what has actually changed?
See, Rue says that Maddy is good at her job, so naturally, her pivot to managing Cassie brings the two back together. But one thing we know about Maddy is that she holds grudges. With that in mind, the reunion may be more strategic than sincere.
For Maddy, getting involved in Cassie’s OnlyFans feels like a calculated move. It offers a way to reconnect while also opening a path to financial gain, but it could just as easily be about gaining leverage over Cassie and Nate. We already know Nate, who is positioned as morally conservative, is deeply uncomfortable with Cassie posting nude content online, which raises the question of whether Maddy’s involvement is partly designed to provoke him.
After all, Nate Jacobs once held a gun to Maddy’s head in season 2 after she discovered a CD exposing his father’s abuse of Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer). With that history in mind, Maddy’s decision could be about more than revenge on Cassie. It may also be a way of getting under Nate’s skin and disrupting his life and ambitions.
There's a case for this because Nate also tells Cassie he's worried his business dealings could fall through if the potential partners find Cassie's video online. At this point, she's not on OnlyFans; she's posing in a 'sexy' dog costume and acting like one for entertainment and clout. Assuming Cassie voices Nate's reservations to Maddy, believing she may have forgiven her by now, Maddy is in a position of advantage. She knows that Cassie’s decision to do explicit content could potentially disrupt Nate’s life in the same way he once upended hers and left lasting emotional scars. It's not a bad strategy for revenge. Even if Maddy isn't planning anything, she'd revel in seeing Cassie and Nate's relationship and Nate's ego fall apart.
3. Season 3 will focus on crime
It's obvious with the film noir style of season 3 that the focus will be on crime plots, rather than teenage struggles. Levinson has changed the tone drastically to include drug kingpins, pimps, prostitution, you name it, it's all there. While Euphoria was criticized previously for being too explicit and sexualized, the show has taken it up a notch with Rue being involved in both.
She was always the main character, but it seems as if season 3 is going to center around Rue finding her way out of being a mule to possibly finding her path at a strip club? With her addiction issues, it's hard to believe Rue would ever work a long-term normal job like Lexi or Maddy, and with her drug habit, why would she not be close to environments where those things are easily attainable?
But, it's not just Rue who may follow a criminal path. It is possible, and unconfirmed spoilers indicate that Maddy could be plotting to get Cassie involved with some crazy things, but we won't say any more about that.
4. Cassie is going to realise her actions have consequences
Season 2 showed Cassie having a breakdown over Nate not noticing her, so what if I said the same will happen again, but instead it'll be because she's stuck with Nate? In season 3 episode 1, the two are planning their wedding and arguing over Cassie wanting $50,000 floral arrangements, which Nate says no to. It's established that the two have a traditional dynamic, with Nate as the breadwinner and Cassie acting like a stay-at-home girlfriend.
Not knowing what else to do, Cassie entertains the idea of OF, which Nate reluctantly agrees to later on. While spoiler photos indicate Cassie and Nate will get married, I think she'll have a lightbulb moment when or just before they tie the knot. Cassie being back in touch with Maddy and surrounded by her former friends with mostly normal jobs will make Cassie realize all she's given up to be a bad man's trophy wife. With her having an OnlyFans and being persuaded into creating more explicit content for money, she will realize she's ruined her opportunity of a normal job or life, as companies aren't likely to hire people with pasts involving explicit content.
As well as potentially altering her future, Cassie will reflect and have a moment of realization on every relationship she's given up for Nate, including her family, friends, and former best friend, even when he treats her horribly and her desires are pushed to the side.
5. Season 3 is Euphoria's last season
It's glaringly obvious that Euphoria season 3 could be the show's last, but the premiere confirmed it is very likely. Moving the characters into adulthood was a storytelling choice Levinson made purposely. He could've kept the characters in high school, as season 2 didn't end at graduation, but he chose not to.
By moving the characters into adulthood, Levinson has shifted the story to a new timeline and life stage for all of the characters. We also learn details about missing characters, and the absence of certain actors could suggest season 3 is the last, because there is no more story left to tell for them.
The audience finds out Jules is a sugarbaby, and she's not even in episode 1. Fezco (Angus Cloud) is in prison, and Rue's sister Gia (Storm Reid) is doing well in college off-screen. Usually, actors leave a series near the end or when there is nothing left to do with them. Actor deaths aside, Euphoria has run out of storylines for some of its original characters.
Both Zendaya and Levinson have hinted that season 3 is the show's last.
In an interview with Variety, Levinson said he has "no plans" for season 4, and he writes each season as if it's the show's last. Zendaya also said in an interview on The Drew Barrymore Show that "closure is coming" for her character, Rue. That doesn't sound like something someone would say if there were going to be another season!
Whether Euphoria season 3 is the last, the first episode revealed a lot about the potential direction and the mess the characters may get into.