Euphoria is Back!

It was around three years ago that we last saw film icon Zendaya – who graced the cover of HUNGER’s ninth issue back in 2015 – navigate her way through high school and love as a teenager trying to overcome addiction and the mental health obstacles that many of us face, even beyond adolescence. 

When Euphoria landed on our screens for the first time, it felt refreshing, insightful and a necessary commentary on teenage struggles. It seemed like Sam Levinson’s production, based on an Israeli TV show of the same name, was everything that a show like Skins wanted to be. The first season’s episodes were bursting with designers like Gosha Rubchinskiy, a soundtrack that rivalled award-studded productions, acting that cemented Zendaya and Hunter Schafer’s futures as Hollywood stars, and gripping pertinent themes. 

And now, after COVID delayed production for a year, season two of Euphoria is finally here.    

Our first glimpse of what Levinson and the cast had in store came in the form of an action-packed trailer back in December last year that made guns, drug use, car crashes and criminal activity feel commonplace.  

Musician Dominic Fike joins the cast as a new acquaintance of the show’s stars, and the first long-awaited episode seemed to be everything that we could expect from the series: guns, nudity and a tear-jerking, hard-hitting coming-of-age story.

 Just hours before the first episode of the season aired, Zendaya took to Instagram to remind fans of Euphoria that the show deals with mature themes that deserve a trigger warning – an inevitable prerequisite to a show that promises to move you, for better or for worse. 

“This season, maybe even more so than the last, is deeply emotional and deals with subject matter that can be triggering and difficult to watch,” the actress posted.  

Despite Euphoria being critiqued by many in the past for its potentially over-egged exploration of provoking themes that might not often feel authentic, rather just shoehorned into the show for the sake of meaningful discourse, fans of Zendaya, Schafer, Fike, Jacob Elordi, Alexa Demie and Barbie Ferreira can rejoice in the knowledge that their on-screen favourites are finally back, and approaching themes that others would not dare to. 

Euphoria Season Two is available to watch on HBO Max and Sky Atlantic.

Banner image from HUNGER: Issue Nine.