Unfortunately, no one will be experiencing Euphoria for another calendar year. On Thursday, HBO chairman Casey Bloys confirmed that Euphoria, the hit teen drama from auteur Sam Levinson starring Emmy-winner Zendaya, will return to the premium cable network in 2025 after about three years off air. 

Details about the third season have been kept close to the chest, with Levinson telling Elle in August that he sees the third season of Euphoria as a “film noir.” In the coming episodes, Zendaya’s troubled but well-intentioned Rue will “explore what it means to be an individual with principles in a corrupt world,” Levinson said at the time. Read on to learn what else we know about the upcoming episodes.

So Euphoria isn’t back for another year?!

Production for season three of Euphoria has not yet begun, in part due to the now concluded writers strike and the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. Sorry!

What happened at the end of season two, anyway?

The season two finale of Euphoria was, to put it mildly, a doozy. It picks up with the second part of a very meta play written by Lexi (Maude Apatow) about her childhood in Euphoria-ville. Maddy (Alexa Demie) comes to the startling realization that she is a central character in the play (“Is this play about us?”), causing her to go on a slap-happy rampage against her ex-best friend, Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), that completely derails the performance. 

Outside of the theater, Nate (Jacob Elordi) confronts his father, Cal (Eric Dane), with a flash drive containing all of Cal’s explicit videos, and tips off the police about them, leading to Cal’s arrest. Fez (Angus Cloud) also has a run-in with the police, resulting in a shoot-out in his apartment where his “little brother” Ashtray (Javon Walton), is shot and Fez is arrested. Rue has a heart-to-heart with her estranged BFF-slash-girlfriend, Jules (Hunter Schafer), confessing her love for Jules and hoping to reconcile. The season ends on a cautiously optimistic note as Rue reveals that she stayed clean for the rest of the school year and is, for once, looking forward to the future.

Can I at least watch the stars of Euphoria somewhere else while I wait for the new season?

Yes! While Euphoria has been off the air since airing its second season finale on February 27, 2022, its cast of troubled teens have been keeping busy filming other projects. Zendaya was set to star in two highly anticipated films this fall—Denis Villeneuve’s Dune follow-up, Dune: Part Two, and Luca Guadagnino’s tennis ménage à trois, Challengers, costarring Josh Charles and Mike Faist. However, both films were postponed to 2024 due to Hollywood strikes.

Hunter Schafer can be seen in the forthcoming Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, opposite Rachel Zegler and Viola Davis. Sydney Sweeney, who plays lovable mess Cassie on Euphoria, has shown her range by filming two very different movies: Reality and Anyone But You. Sweeney has garnered some awards buzz for her role as American intelligence leaker Reality Winner in the Max drama, which hit the streaming platform in May. She’s also turned heads with Anyone but You, a romantic comedy set to hit theaters on December 23, in part due to off-screen romance rumors with her costar Glenn Powell. 

Sweeney’s not the only one in awards-friendly films. Her secret Euphoria boyfriend, Nate, played by Aussie Jacob Elordi, is starring in two buzzy projects by female auteurs: Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, where he plays a wealthy Oxford student, and Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, where he stars as Elvis Presley, which, apparently, stunned Priscilla Presley with his vocal impression of the King of Rock and Roll. Colman Domingo, who won an Emmy for his role as Rue’s sponsor, Ali Muhammed, on Euphoria, also has a busy award season in 2023. He’s gaining attention for his starring role as queer civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in Netflix’s biopic Rustin, directed by George C. Wolfe. He also stars as the dastardly Mister in the highly anticipated film adaptation of the Broadway musical The Color Purple, starring Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks. 

What about Euphoria creator Sam Levinson?

Levinson, of course, has also kept busy: he helmed the critically and commercially panned HBO drama The Idol, starring Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp. He’ll have plenty of time to focus on Euphoria once the SAG strike ends, as The Idol was canceled after a single season.

And what about the stars who won’t return for Euphoria season three?

Alas, Barbie Ferreira, who starred as Kat on the first two seasons of the series, has left the series after reported tension with Levinson. Euphoria cast member Angus Cloud will also not appear in season three: The actor, who memorably played beloved drug dealer Fez, died of an accidental overdose this summer, at the age of 25. After his death, tributes poured out from his Euphoria cast mates. “Words are not enough to describe the infinite beauty that is Angus (Conor),” wrote Zendaya in an Instagram caption featuring a picture of Cloud. “I’m so grateful I got the chance to know him in this life, to call him a brother, to see his warm kind eyes and bright smile, or hear his infectious cackle of a laugh (I’m smiling now just thinking of it).”