Buckle up; Euphoria is almost back.
The hit HBO show, which started in 2019 and made stars out of actors like Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi, took a five year break after its second season – but now it’s finally back for what promises to be its last outing.
Though it’s not out for another week, we’ve already had a few teasers drop in the trailer. Rue is smuggling drugs in Mexico, Cassie and Nate appear to be engaged and Maddy is living out the Hollywood dream as a talent agent.
The cast has been reshuffled, and they’re older, but some of our favourite faces are still back, as well as some brand new ones. Here’s who.
Zendaya as Rue Bennett
One of the show’s main characters. By the end of season two, Rue was attempting to stay sober (and tells us via voiceover she stayed clean for the rest of the school year, after the season finale), navigate her relationship with Jules (which looked like it was on the rocks) and attempting to come to terms with her addiction.
In the season three trailer, it looks like she’s wound up living between Mexico and the US, smuggling drugs across the border. “In the beginning, we had to make a choice about who we were and what we wanted,” she says in the voiceover. “But what we didn’t realise was how far we were willing to go.” It looks like she winds up in trouble: certainly, there seem to be gunmen and the police after her.
Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn
Jules ended season two on a crushing low, her relationship with Rue in question. By season three, though, it looks like Jules is navigating life as a “sugar baby” as well as her studies in art school.
Schafer told the Call Her Daddy podcast in 2025 that she “no f***ing idea what’s going on” in the new season.
“You can ask literally all of the cast,” she told Alex Cooper. “The real tea is that a lot has happened… I think everyone feels a certain sense of anticipation… If we do go back, that’s going to be tough. I think there’s a world in which we can channel that into making it a beautiful Season 3 — if it is supposed to happen.”
Jacob Elordi as Nate Jacobs
The former school quarterback, vicious bully and toxic ex to Maddy. As per the trailer, it looks like Nate and Cassie are still together, and it even looks like they’re about to get married – although it looks like the relationship isn’t a happy one, with Nate working as a builder and Cassie as an OnlyFans model.
“We grew up from late teens into adults on that show,” Elordi told Entertainment Tonight about the show. “It was beautiful. It was really touching to go back… it was like stepping into a time capsule. Nothing had changed.”
He also told Variety that season three was “incredibly liberating… I got to play something so far out from what I’ve done before.”
Sydney Sweeney as Cassie Howard
The former best friend of Maddy Perez, who ended up getting together with her ex, Nate. She ended season two completely emotionally destroyed – but apparently will be back for more in season three. “Cassie is crazy,” Sweeney told The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, adding she was “even worse” in the upcoming season. Gulp.
Alexa Demie as Maddy Perez
Maddy is back! Despite starting the show without much of a desire for a career, season three teases Maddy on a high, working in Hollywood as a talent agent. The trailer shows her with Rue, and while we don’t know too much more, it’ll be fun learning how she got there. Plus, the trailer also teases a reunion with Cassie, and we see a shot of what looks like Maddy directing her in one of her OnlyFans videos. Sure, why not.
Maude Apatow as Lexi Howard
The quiet sister of Cassie and childhood best friend of Rue. Lexi ended season two having written a semi-autobiographical play, Our Life, which she put on at school with the encouragement of Fez. We don’t know too much about where she’s ended up since then, but we do see a shot of her in what looks like a TV exec’s office, being told that the “network loved your storyline.” It sounds like a career in showbiz could be beckoning.
Dominic Fike as Elliot
A drug user that Rue falls in with, who makes the money to fuel his habit via his music and whose presence strained Jules and Rue’s relationship.
Colman Domingo as Ali
Ali is Rue’s mentor and father figure. The pair initially met at a NA meeting, where it was revealed that Ali was a firefighter whose spiralling drug habit caused him to lose touch with both his daughters. Domingo, who plays him, is a multi award-winning actor best known for Sing Sing and Fear the Walking Dead.
“You wanna undo all the evil you’ve done?” he asks Rue at one point. “Start by changing yourself.”
Eric Dane as Cal Jacobs
Cal is Nate’s father: a successful businessman and strict father who (we found out in previous seasons) is hiding a secret life. Cal is bisexual and had feelings for his best friend Derek, but ended up staying with his wife Marsha after she told him she was pregnant. Cal’s secret sex tapes, filmed with women and trans men, were found by Nate at the age of 11 and shaped his attitudes towards love and sex growing up. Euphoria is also Dane’s last performance; he died in February.
Chloe Cherry as Faye
The air-headed Faye, Fezco’s houseguest/ lodger, was a surprise hit when she appeared in season two. Still, her reappearance raises questions, not least because Angus Cloud, who played Fez, tragically passed away in 2023. What is Faye doing now? And was she caught up in that final raid?
Nika King as Leslie Bennett
Leslie is Rue’s mother, and one of the people who bears the brunt of her chaotic life and drug addiction.
“Season three is coming out … I don’t fucking know,” King joked on stage, addressing the long wait between seasons. “Don’t ask me, I don’t know. … ‘We need season three!’ Bitch, I need season three! I haven’t paid my rent in six months. And Zendaya’s over in Paris at Fashion Week. I’m like, ‘Bitch, come home! I need you! Mama needs you.’”
Martha Kelly as Laurie
Laurie is a drug dealer whom Rue and Fez get tangled up with in season two. At one point, Rue asks Laurie to become one of her ‘runners’ and fronts a suitcase of drugs, only to use some of the fentanyl then lose it. When Rue, suffering from withdrawals, shows up at Laurie’s doorstep, Laurie gives her morphine to ease the symptoms, as well as a shower and a change of clothes – the last we see of her is sleeping in bed as Rue sneaks out of their apartment.
Who’s not coming back?
Barbie Ferriera confirmed that she would not be returning as Kat Hernandez, telling the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard that “I don’t think there were places she could have gone. I just don’t think it would have fit into the show… I wanted to be able to not be the fat best friend.”
Also not returning? Storm Reid as Gia Bennett, Nika King as Leslie Bennett, and Algee Smith as Chris.
Who’s new to the series?
So far, we’ve had a slew of big names drop, though exactly who they’ll be playing, we’re not yet sure. That includes Sharon Stone, Natasha Lyonne, controversial podcast host Trisha Paytas, international superstar Rosalía and Marshawn Lynch.
Euphoria will be returning on April 8 on HBO Max
