Euphoria Grows Up But Still Shocks!

Euphoria (HBO Max, SkyNow) 

Rating:

 Few shows have stirred up as much controversy as , the drama that splashed teenage sex and drugs across the small screen and launched the careers of , and .

Was Sam Levinson's show, which follows high school students navigating addiction, social media and their dark pasts, intended as a cautionary tale for teens? 

Or was it just naked exploitation of characters who were essentially children?

An infamous locker-room scene from season one featured the penises – albeit prosthetic ones – of around 30 schoolboys, so make of that what you will.

But Euphoria is now back for a long- third series and is in some ways quite different, having been off our screens since 2022. 

Two crucial cast members – Angus Cloud, who starred as Fezco, and , as Cal Jacobs – have also passed away since the last season was broadcast.

In the meantime, Levinson busied himself with The Idol, a sleazy disaster of a show about a self-important man perving over a pop singer, leaving many doubting whether Euphoria would return at all. 

Zendaya, Elordi and Sweeney are all bona fide film stars now and, contractual requirements aside, you can see why they might not want to play second fiddle to each other.

Sweeney put nearly £300million through the box office over Christmas with the psychological thriller The Housemaid, and Elordi and Zendaya both recently opened the buzzy movies Wuthering Heights and The Drama.

But however it's been perceived in the past, Euphoria has always been a place for actors to take on challenging material. And that hasn't changed here.

Zendaya is still superb as Rue, a lost soul who's struggled with addiction since we first .