Euphoria Creator Talks Sydney Sweeney’s Controversial Season 3 Scenes

Even if you’re not watching Euphoria, the chances are it won’t have passed you by that it recently returned for its third (and, quite probably, final) season after a four-year absence from our screens.

In the new instalments, much has already been made in the media of the fact that several of the show’s central female characters have pivoted to different forms of sex work in the time since we last saw them, most notably Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie.

Since the first episode of season three aired over the weekend, several outlets have been running pieces from viewers perturbed by scenes in episode one – and a teaser for the rest of the season – showing Cassie modelling for OnlyFans while posing in outfits intended to resemble a dog or a baby.

An opinion piece was published by Metro on Monday evening with a headline claiming that “Sydney Sweeney’s baby scene in Euphoria crosses the line”, while The Cut pondered: “Did we really need pup play on Euphoria?”

Other headlines quoted viewers who found the scenes varying levels of “disgusting”, “weird” and “disturbing”.

Euphoria creator Sam Levison teased what was in store for Sydney’s character ahead of the show’s season three premiere, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “She has got her dog house and her little dog ears and the nose, and that has its own humour.”

In his opinion, though, “what makes the scene is the fact that her housekeeper is the one filming it”.

“What we wanted to always find is the other layer of absurdity that we’re able to tie into it so that we’re not too inside of her fantasy or illusion,” he claimed. “The gag is to jump out, to break the wall.”

Levison added: “Some of these scenes we only lit with these ring lights that she would use

The Emmy nominee pointed out that Cassie’s ring light being the scene’s only light source had its own purpose.

“When you’re inside, it’s a beautiful, glowing front light,” he claimed. “But then you jump out of it and it’s just a pool of light and everything surrounding it is dark. It’s just gnarly and jarring.

“We wanted to capture what she’s trying to show the audience and be inside of it, but then also pull back wider and see how depressing it is.”

So far, Euphoria’s third season has received predominantly negative reviews, with many critics feeling the show has lost its way by aging up the characters we previously met as teenagers.

In between Euphoria’s second and third seasons, Sam Levison also helmed the TV series The Idol, which was similarly panned by critics.