‘Euphoria’ Creator Sam Levinson on Losing Angus Cloud, Directing Eric Dane and Having ‘No Plans’ For Season 4

Home TV Columns Apr 7, 2026 8:35pm PT ‘Euphoria’ Creator Sam Levinson on Losing Angus Cloud, Directing Eric Dane and Having ‘No Plans’ For Season 4 By Marc Malkin, Jack Dunn Getty When asked about the challenges of making “Euphoria” Season 3, one stuck out for series creator Sam Levinson: losing Angus Cloud to an overdose in 2023. “Losing Angus was really hard for us as a production. I loved him very deeply,” an emotional Levinson told Variety at Tuesday night’s “Euphoria” Season 3 premiere in Hollywood. “I fought hard to keep them clean.” Levinson said he used the new season to honor Cloud and “keep him alive” through storytelling. Popular on Variety He added, “I wanted to deal with that. I wanted to deal with questions about faith, about a power greater than ourselves. What it means to surrender your life and your will to God as you understand him?” #Euphoria creator Sam Levinson gets emotional reflecting on Angus Cloud’s death, saying he “fought hard to keep him clean.” pic.twitter.com/LuDOfKzCc5 — Variety (@Variety) April 8, 2026 In addition to Cloud, “Euphoria” also lost Eric Dane to ALS in February. Dane already shot his scenes before he died, and Levinson said he was committed to closing out Season 3. Levinson recalled telling Dane that “there’s no pressure” to return to set following his ALS diagnosis, but Dane asserted, “‘I want to do this.'” “When he showed up, I noticed that his speech was a little slurred,” Levinson remembered. “He was a bit self-conscious, and I said, ‘This works perfectly. We’re gonna put five beer bottles in front of you, and you’re about to say all of the shit you would never say if you were sober.’ And we just had a blast shooting. We had 28 cast members on Saturday for the wedding. There’s all these people around, and he just showed up with such grace and dignity. He’s a consummate professional all the way through, and I miss him.” #Euphoria creator Sam Levinson on working with Eric Dane in Season 3 following his ALS diagnosis, telling him, “I’ll take you in whatever way you want to show up.” pic.twitter.com/znoWsJ3H24 — Variety (@Variety) April 8, 2026 After series star Zendaya suggested that Season 3 could be “Euphoria’s” last, Levinson shared his thoughts on whether or not he would continue the show. Levinson said he writes “every season like it’s the last season” and has “no plans” for a Season 4. As of now, he said he is completely focused on delivering his best work with Season 3. He said. “I want to finish this as strong as I can. I’m cutting [episodes] seven and eight still. I’m putting some finishing touches. I just want to deliver a fucking slam dunk season.” Zendaya hinted quite strongly during an appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show” that the series is coming to end with Season 3. “I think so, yeah,” she said when Barrymore asked it was the final season. Zendaya also said, “That closure is coming.” There has been no official word from HBO about future seasons. As previously reported, Season 3 jumps ahead five years with Cassie ( Sydney Sweeney) and Nate (Jacob Elordi) married and living in the suburbs and Rue working off her debt to drug dealer Laurie (Martha Kelly). Levinson also has revealed that Jules (Hunter Schafer) is in art school and Maddy (Alexa Demie) is working at a talent agency in Hollywood. Last month, Zendaya told me that “it was a whirlwind” filming the third season. “I did what I do in eight months in like four months,” she said at the Los Angeles premiere of “The Drama.” “It was like trying to get eight episodes in at once. It just flew by me.” “Euphoria” Season 3 premieres on HBO on April 12 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Read More About: Euphoria, HBO, Just For Variety Jump to Comments More from Variety Robyn Gets Erotic With the Ecstatically Pop-tastic ‘Sexistential’: Album Review ‘Faces of Death’ Review: A ’70s-Style B-Horror Movie Taps into the Growing Appetite for Horror That’s ‘Real’ ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’ Broadway Review: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Musical Gets Fresh and Fierce Update as an Ode to Queer Ballroom Culture ‘Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord’ Is an Uneven but Promising Extension of the ‘Clone Wars’ Saga: TV Review Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso Return From ‘Earth-Shattering Meltdown’ With the Kaleidoscopic ‘Free Spirits’: Album Review Prime Video’s ‘Jury Duty’ Returns With the Joyously Delightful ‘Company Retreat’: TV Review Loading comments...