Why Euphoria season three has been branded a $200M ‘mistake’

Euphoria fans have torn apart the show’s long-awaited third season, criticising the ‘disgusting’ scenes and the decision for some cast members to return. 

Creator Sam Levinson had a rumoured $200 million budget for the latest season, which saw the return of the East Highland High School students after a five-year break, charting their new lives as adults. 

Yet the gamble doesn’t seem to have paid off, with the new series scoring a dismal 42 percent ‘rotten’ rating on reviews aggravator site Rotten Tomatoes, while one viewer branded the revival an ‘expensive mistake you didn’t have to make’.

Many have also questioned the decision for Jacob Elordi and Sydney Sweeney to return – with viewers saying Oscar-nominee Jacob doesn’t seem committed to the role, claiming it looks like he is ‘physically forcing himself through every take’. 

Meanwhile, Sydney was accused of putting herself through a ‘humiliation ritual’ with her degrading scenes showing her shooting OnlyFans content dressed as a dog and a baby. 

Viewers also took to X/Twitter to warn others not to watch the show while eating, revealing they’d been left feeling sick at graphic scenes showing characters throwing up and suffering with bouts of diarrhoea.

Particularly nauseating scenes included Zendaya and Chloe Cherry – who play Rue and Faye – struggling to choke down lube-covered balloons of fentanyl in order to smuggle it over the Mexico-US border. 

The characters were seen struggling for air and vomiting while forcing down the drugs – but the scenes for extracting the fentanyl were even more gruesome. 

In order to obtain the drugs, the pair were forced to defecate in a strainer – which was later washed off and used to serve spaghetti. 

While waiting for her turn to use the toilet, Faye struggled with a bout of explosive diarrhoea, with a dog eating the excrement. 

Disgusted viewers posted on X/Twitter: ‘i genuinely can’t wrap my head around how disgusting #euphoria has become’ are we really talking about the same show that gave us an insane S1 and those two masterpiece special eps for rue and jules??’;

‘everything coming out about S3 (besides successful maddy) is making me sick.’; ‘hbo max is evil for not having a playback speed button for us to speed through all of those disgusting choking, vomiting, and s***ng scenes #euphoria’.

Another scene that shocked viewers took place between Sydney and Jacob, who play Cassie and Nate, who are now engaged and living in the suburbs.

While struggling to raise enough money for their dream wedding, Cassie turned to OnlyFans, shooting fetish content dressed as a dog and baby among other characters. 

During an act of role play between the pair, Cassie acted as a dog and Nate as her master, raising eyebrows among viewers given Sydney has spoken out against the stigma of being sexualised throughout her career. 

Reacting to the scenes, fans shared: ‘I keep seeing Sydney Sweeney as more and more excessively sexualized. She’s an actress with potential, but I think she’s not taking the right path when she weighs the sexualization of her body more heavily in her career than her talent. The 3rd season of #Euphoria is an example’;

‘So is Euphoria just a humiliation ritual for Sydney Sweeney at this point? #euphoria’; ‘This is so embarassing even for jacob. But, how Sydney sweeney can agree to do something like this?  It’s like a humillation ritual #euphoria #euphoriaseason3’.

Turning their attention to Jacob, fans penned: ‘You can tell jacob elordi is just doing #euphoria season 3 for the money because his heart isn’t in it, he really don’t gaf’; 

‘you can tell jacob elordi feels the same way about euphoria now the way he felt about the kissing Booth when he first started euphoria’;

‘Jacob looks like he is physically forcing himself through every take and it is getting harder to ignore’; ‘Jacob Elordi has less desire to act in Euphoria than Justin at Coachella’;

‘With the career he is building outside Euphoria it feels like this is pure obligation at this point and the show is suffering for it.’ 

Jacob previously confessed that he wasn’t sure if the change to his character was a ‘good’ move. 

In the first two seasons, Nate was manipulative, controlling and abusive towards the women in his life, leaving viewers somewhat surprised by his seemingly subdued reaction to his fiancée announcing she was setting up an OnlyFans account. 

He addressed his role in December during a chat with Gwyneth Paltrow for Variety, with the actress asking him: ‘Is your character nicer?’ 

Jacob responded: ‘I actually think so. I really do think so. Whether it works or not, I don’t know. 

‘There’s a chance that whatever we’ve done is just not… well, what I’ve done is not good, I’m not sure.  I’m not sure.’

Zendaya seemed equally non-committal when asked what she thought about the third season.   

When asked what fans could expect, she told Variety it had been a ‘whirlwind’ experience filming and that it ‘just flew by me’. 

She added that she had only ‘seen a little bit’ of the series but added ‘I hope it turns out beautifully.’

Brutal reviews of series three said the new season has an over-reliance on ‘shock value’ elements such as nudity and sexuality rather than developing decent storylines. 

The Guardian branded it ‘grubby and desperate’ while The Telegraph’s scathing headline for its review reads: ‘Euphoria has descended into one man’s creepy, sex-obsessed fantasy – the long-awaited third season has arrived, but even Zendaya can’t save it from Sam Levinson’s debauchery.’

The latter newspaper points out that Levinson famously writes alone, without a writer’s room and sometimes method dresses as his characters, with reviewer Eleanor Halls musing: ‘Once you know that it’s difficult to watch his X-rated show in the same way again.’

She adds that Levinson has ‘gone full pervert’ and ‘has trapped all of his female leads in the performance, or exploitation, of sex work’, before saying the show ‘increasingly feels like the misogynistic fantasies of a creepy old man’.

HBO have yet to confirm if season three of Euphoria will be the final one, but Zendaya hinted this will be the case. 

When asked directly on The Drew Barrymore show,  Zendaya said: ‘I think so, yeah.’

Drew responded: ‘I never want to ask questions like that, because it’s not my business, and yet, is this to be enjoyed knowing [it will end]? I almost need to know the mind frame [before watching]’.

Zendaya again reiterated that she ‘thought so’, adding: ‘That closure is coming.’

Euphoria airs at 9pm (ET/PT) on HBO on Sundays. In the UK, the series airs at 2am and 9pm on Mondays on Sky Atlantic and streams on HBO Max and Sky Go/NOW