The Evil Has Finally Been Defeated: HBO’s Most Controversial Show Is Ending With Season 3

At long last, Euphoria is finally over. Fans from all over were there for the HBO drama’s swan song this weekend.

Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, and Jacob Elordi will have to find something else to do with their time after HBO confirmed that Season 3 of Euphoria is indeed the end of the series. Sam Levinson put these young adults through the wringer over the last half decade and change.

The Hollywood Reporter received confirmation from the cable TV powerhouse that this week’s finale was the end of the road. Levinson said that Euphoria Season 3 was the end on Popcast, but you always have to double check this sort of stuff!

If you saw last week’s episode, or this week’s episode for that matter, you had to have a feeling that the end was nigh. Spoilers for this season of Euphoria, but killing Jacob Elordi’s Nate, Zendaya’s Rue and a host of other characters probably means that the shop is closing up.

Once you axe over half the cast, and two of the biggest stars on the billing, it’s hard to come back from that. Well, at least Levinson allowed Colman Domingo to do something cool in the finale. He spun the block in honor of Rue and delivered some “cathartic” action for the people at home.

Just as well, Euphoria ending with this kind of action is more than alright with a large swath of the fanbase. On social media, a lot of these viewers grew tired of the twisting separated plot of this season, and just wanted it to be over.

It’s interesting, a controversial show dies a controversial death. Maybe overstaying it’s welcome? Or, going out on its own terms, depending on who you talk to!

Will there be a Euphoria Season 4?

Straight from the horse’s mouth, that seems highly unlikely. HBO both confirmed that the series was over with THR as we discussed earlier in the piece. But, comments from Levinson himself during Popcast also throw cold water on that idea.

Just listen to the creator himself. It sure seems like things are finished. Levinson explained, “ 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 of me.”

In a moment of hedging about the fan outcry following Rue’s sad demise in the show, the creator did share a fact about drugs today. This is a truth of the situation despite the somewhat curious framing at play.

Talking about Euphoria’s story, the creator also noted the narrative is “a tragic one in the end – but it’s also the truth.” Levinson added, “ If you are experimenting or taking drugs today, it’s very possible it’ll kill you.”

“It felt like if we were really going to be saying something, we needed to put the audience in the position of a family member who loses someone that they love,” Levinson explained. “ And I know how much I love Rue and audiences love Rue. I wanted to mirror that feeling.”

Well, now what?

Levinson’s creative vision always became the focal point of conversations about euphoria. Sure, you can argue that in the early days of the social media fandom around the show, viewers were super invested in Rue and all her friends’ scandalous lives. People have been watching teenagers behave badly on TV for decades at this point.

But, more than anything, Euphoria became a referendum on the ways young adults are depicted on-screen. It’s easy to go back and look at how many of the articles about the series never really get past the shock of drug use or nudity featuring “youth-coded” performers. This kind of controversy did all the show’s marketing for it. All a fan needed to do was log onto Twitter (R.I.P.) and jump headlong into the discourse.

Possibly, it was never going to end any other way. Euphoria is done, and it feels like not a moment too soon!

(featured image: HBO)

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