Euphoria creator Sam Levinson has revealed that actress Sydney Sweeney pushed for the inclusion of nude scenes in the show's third season. In a podcast interview, Levinson said Sweeney's character Cassie Howard was originally written with less explicit content, but the actress argued that it was necessary for her role as an OnlyFans model.
Levinson told the New York Times podcast: 'When I first wrote it, I thought, 'Well maybe we shoot all of this and we don't have any nudity.' I was talking to her, and [I said] 'Maybe there's ways to shoot around certain things?' She looked at me, and she was like, 'Are you kidding? It's like, I'm playing an OnlyFans model. You're telling me you're going to, like, skirt around it?' And I was like, 'Yeah, OK, it's a fair point.'
The showrunner praised Sweeney as a 'totally fearless actor' and 'wonderfully professional', adding: 'I adore working with her, because there's such a flexibility in terms of the performance.' However, the scenes sparked fan backlash, with critics arguing they degraded Cassie and amounted to a 'humiliation ritual' for Sweeney.
Addressing the criticism, Levinson said: 'I believe very strongly that the best, most honest performances are when an actor feels free and safe. That's how you get a great performance.' He added that his role was to 'create the most conducive environment for the actor'. Sweeney herself appeared to reference the controversy on Instagram, sharing a behind-the-scenes photo of herself nearly naked with a python and captioning it: 'It's called... acting.'
The season finale also drew anger for killing off Zendaya's character Rue via an accidental fentanyl overdose, mirroring the real-life death of Euphoria star Angus Cloud in 2023. Levinson defended the decision, saying: 'The honest ending is that people like Rue don't make it. There's no reason to sugarcoat it. I wanted to tell this story for Angus [Cloud] and for people who weren't granted a second chance.'
