Euphoria creator Sam Levinson has responded to criticism surrounding Sydney Sweeney's OnlyFans storyline in the show's third season premiere, defending it as an intentional artistic decision.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Levinson explained that the scene featuring Cassie (played by Sweeney) conducting a provocative dog-themed photoshoot in her outdated home was designed to reveal deeper layers of absurdity. "What makes the scene is the fact that her housekeeper is the one filming it," Levinson noted. "We wanted to always find 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."
The 41-year-old showrunner emphasized the deliberate contrast between Cassie's glamorous online persona and her less-than-glamorous reality. "The gag is to jump out, to break the wall," he said, describing how the scene shifts between Cassie's curated performance and the stark reality of her surroundings.
Director of photography Marcell Rév elaborated on the technical choices that reinforced this contrast. "An obvious choice would've been something modern and very plain and fancy, but we ended up choosing this mid-century home, which is a little tacky, but also stuck in the '70s," Rév explained. "OnlyFans has its own aesthetic and how you elevate that aesthetic to the show's aesthetic is a challenge."
Levinson detailed the specific lighting approach: "Some of these scenes we only lit with these ring lights that she would use. When you're inside, it's a beautiful, glowing front light, 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," Levinson continued, "but then also pull back wider and see how depressing it is."
The season three premiere, which debuted on April 12, features a significant time jump showing the Euphoria characters several years after high school. Cassie now lives with fiancé Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) as they plan their expensive wedding, while other characters have taken divergent paths.
Rue (Zendaya) works as a drug mule to settle debts with dealer Laurie, while Lexi (Maude Apatow) and Maddy (Alexa Demie) pursue careers in Hollywood publicity and television respectively. The episode also includes tributes to late cast members Eric Dane and Angus Cloud, whose characters remain alive in the series—with Cloud's Fezco serving a 30-year prison sentence.
Levinson emphasized the show's evolution, stating: "We have a motto of: Evolve or die. We wanted to make sure we were changing things up. We're seeing them out in the world, in the wider world, and allowing the actors to communicate emotionally through the performance, as opposed to in the past, when we did it moreso through camera. We wanted to see them fending for themselves."