Just as we Euphoria fans are coming down off the high of Zendaya winning the Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama, HBO announced Monday that they’re giving us two special episodes to help hold us over until the delayed second season — and the first one is a holiday special!
Announcing the news on Instagram, Zendaya says, “we really missed them.” Them, as in the characters. The characters they haven’t been able to inhabit since they wrapped eight months of shooting on season one in May 2019, one of which is now an Emmy winner. I know Zendaya must have been itching to get back at it.
HBO says the first episode will follow Rue as she celebrates Christmas. What does that look like? I’m thinking less Mariah Carey, more Mariah scary? Although, judging by the teaser pic showing her character reflected in Jules’ eye, there could be a little “All I Want for Christmas is You.” Spoiler Alert! The season one finale saw Rue backing out of running away with Jules and relapsing. Some fans even think she may have died. (Keep in mind, other fans thinks she’s been dead the whole series.) We do know these special episodes are being described as a bridge between seasons one and two, so I’m assuming they’re picking up where they left off.
Zendaya originally teased the bonus episode during an appearance on Kimmel in August, where she said the goal is to give fans something during their extended hiatus that can be produced “with a limited amount of people in a safer environment." Hunter Schafer will appear in both episodes. Colman Domingo (Ali, who helps Rue deal with her addiction at Narcotics Anonymous) who appeared in season one, is also confirmed for the first special episode. No plot details or premiere date for episode two have been revealed.
The only sad part about this news is that they’re not going to be about to get to season two anytime soon, which is why they’re offering this appetizer. To think, they were days away from shooting season two when coronavirus shutdowns began. According to Zendaya, the sets were already built and they had done table reads, wardrobe fittings, hair and makeup tests, all of it. I would think they’d have to completely rewrite their season two premiere based off whatever happens in these bonus episodes.
Last week Sydney Sweeney teased some really amazing scripts for season two and especially heavy subject matter for her character, Cassie. Of course she couldn’t give details but said she’s ready to start filming ASAP.
“As soon as it’s safe for us to film ‘Euphoria’ with the whole ‘Euphoria’ grandness that comes with it, we’re waiting to make sure that we can do that in a safe manner.”
It’s that Euphoria “grandness” that I’m thinking about right now. This show is incredibly beautiful from the makeup to the lighting to the cinematography. It’s hard to forget that scene from the season premiere with the rotating hallway — Zendaya was quite literally walking on the ceiling. That’s when I said to myself, this show is it. But I don’t think we’re going to get that from these bonus episodes given limited COVID production measures. And that’s okay because theatrics don’t carry Euphoria, the performances do. So happy holidays to us, Euphoria fans! Shall we look forward to a Valentine’s Day drop for episode two?
Also, Drake wanted to remind us he’s an executive producer on this masterpiece. I’m not mad at him for it.
