Sydney Sweeney has shut down years of speculation that cast scheduling conflicts or behind-the-scenes drama caused the lengthy delay between Euphoria‘s second and third seasons, and she’s not holding back about how the rumours took on a life of their own.
Speaking to Vanity Fair in an interview published on Tuesday, 9 June, the actress, 28, addressed the whispers head-on.
“Well, I mean, we all grew up together on this show, so it’s honestly crazy to watch how much social media and the press spin things,” she said.
Production on season three was originally expected to begin in 2024 before being pushed back by the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, as well as reported delays in script development.
The suggestion that any cast member’s outside commitments held things up particularly amused her, given the contractual reality of how the show works.
“I was in first position to HBO,” she explained.
“So the moment they say, ‘Hey, this is the first day of filming,’ I’m legally not allowed to do anything else. So my schedule doesn’t affect the show.”
She added that the same applied to every other cast member.
“All of us were in first position, so it wasn’t like any of our schedules were holding it up.”
The irony is that in the years between seasons, several of the show’s stars, Sweeney included, became among the most sought-after performers in Hollywood.
Her role as Cassie Howard helped launch her into major projects including The White Lotus, The Housemaid and Anyone But You, making the scheduling speculation feel all the more pointed.
Sweeney also revealed in the interview that creator Sam Levinson had been laying the groundwork for Cassie’s season three arc long before cameras rolled.
As season two was wrapping, he would call her with ideas about where the character was headed.
“So I knew years before we started filming season three that I would be married to Nate, we’d be living in a suburban neighborhood, and Cassie would be crazier than ever,” she said.
The finer details only arrived when the scripts did.
Looking back on the show as a whole, Sweeney described saying goodbye to Cassie as a bittersweet but necessary ritual at the end of every season.
“I’ve always said goodbye to Cassie on the last day, as bittersweet as it is, because she’s such a challenging role and she stretches me as an actor,” she said.
Euphoria season three, which premiered on 12 April and wrapped on 31 May, featured a five-year time jump taking the characters beyond high school and into adulthood. All episodes are streaming now on HBO Max.
