Euphoria’s Final Act: HBO Confirms Season 3 Is the End

Well, it’s finally official: HBO’s Euphoria is shutting up shop after its third season. Not exactly a shock, considering half the cast have gone and turned into household names while the show’s been on hiatus, but the network and creator Sam Levinson have both confirmed that season 3—coming after a frankly awkwardly long wait—will be the end of the road.

The Cast Outgrew High School (And the Show Itself)

If you’ve been wondering why it’s taken what feels like decades for season 3 to roll around, it’s basically because Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi, and Colman Domingo all left the minors and are now main event players in Hollywood. They’re so busy starring in films, you can’t blame HBO for dragging their feet—or Levinson for changing gears.

In typical fashion, Levinson’s decided season 3 would ditch the emotional high school punches and instead do a time jump. So, the new season picks up about five years later. Levinson reckons that was the natural number—after all, had any of them gone to university, by now they’d be out the other side, presumably more world-weary and less addicted to glitter.

'Season 3 is all about being out of the safety net of school,' Levinson told one interviewer. 'Five years felt like a natural place [to jump] because if they had gone to college, they’d be out of college at that time.'

Confirmed: Series Finale, Not Just a Season Finale

Word comes from both HBO and Levinson: the recent season 3 finale is the last ever episode—not just a break before season 4, but a full stop for the series. Levinson did an interview with the New York Times and more or less spelled it out, saying that as far as the original brief for the show—a look at addiction and its fallout—the story’s been told.

'In terms of the story that we set out to tell, which is a story about addiction and its consequences, this feels like the end to me,' Levinson told the NYT.

What Actually Happens? (Massive Spoilers Ahead)

Right, here’s the bit where you stop reading if you’re saving the finale for some future marathon. Spoiler klaxon has sounded.

• Towards the end, things go especially bleak: Jacob Elordi’s character meets a brutal death across the penultimate and final episodes.
• The show closes on Rue (Zendaya) overdosing on fentanyl—a direct call-back not only to the series’ original themes, but also tying into tragic real life events.
• This ending was shaped, in part, by the death of Angus Cloud, who played Fez. Levinson said he was determined to honour Cloud in the story. In Levinson’s words: ‘It was a way of honoring Angus and saying a prayer for the future.'

No Secret Season 4 In The Works

For anyone hanging on to rumours about a season 4, scratch that. There were talks, apparently—nothing solid, just some ideas. Earlier this year, HBO’s boss Casey Bloys had this to say: 'In terms of what he wants to do next, we will have a conversation about what he’s thinking. But right now, he’s focused on finishing three and getting it out.'