Then season two got pushed until 2021, so they asked if I could do COVID episodes. I then wrote Malcolm and Marie, which they gave me their blessing to go shoot with Z and our Euphoria crew. And HBO said, “I think we should all just go home and stay inside for six weeks!” Six weeks later, they said that we were most likely going to push season two until September. So the day they called to shut us down, I actually pitched the idea of doing a super contained Euphoria movie, and if not that, then multiple character studies. I had a feeling that the pandemic was going to shut us down for a while leading up to it because I was watching what was happening to the rest of the world. Even within these self-imposed confines, Levinson composes some beautiful shots and gives his actors one meaty monologue after another to tear through. No quick cuts or crazy camera movements, barely any music, barely any of the show’s sprawling ensemble: it’s mostly just Rue and her would-be sponsor Ali (Colman Domingo, putting up an Emmy-worthy performance) talking in a diner. Much of Euphoria season one, which Levinson directed in its entirety, was visually innovative and regularly deployed quirky narrative structuring, but this first special (“Trouble Don’t Always Last”) is Euphoria as you’ve never seen it. As an appetizer between courses, Levinson is releasing two specials, one-hour installments he refers to as “bridge episodes.” The first one picks up with Zendaya’s character Rue on Christmas, following the events of the finale in which she brought a swift and decisive end to her sobriety after a bad break with Jules (Hunter Schaffer). Even as film productions resume, the schedule chaos wrought by COVID (Zendaya is a very booked and busy individual) has delayed season two to an unspecified date in 2021. The country went into lockdown the day before the much-anticipated second season was set to begin filming in March. The portrayal of young adult nihilism and hard drug-fuelled hedonism in the show’s first season was divisive among critics, but it all built to a finale that spawned theories and spirited debates about its meaning among fans. Few entertainers have been as productive during the pandemic as Euphoria creator-director Sam Levinson, and his now Emmy-certified lead, Zendaya.
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