The first season of the American teen drama television series Euphoria, inspired by Ron Leshem's miniseries of the same name, premiered on HBO on June 16, 2019. Series creator Sam Levinson serves as showrunner for the season. The season centers on teenage addict Rue Bennett as she struggles to get sober, find her place in the world, and adjust to her relationships after drug rehabilitation. Zendaya stars as Rue alongside an ensemble cast consisting of Maude Apatow, Angus Cloud, Eric Dane, Alexa Demie, Jacob Elordi, Barbie Ferreira, Nika King, Storm Reid, Hunter Schafer, Algee Smith, and Sydney Sweeney.
In June 2017, development began on an American adaptation of the Israeli series Euphoria. In March 2018, HBO gave a pilot order, to be written by Levinson and directed by Augustine Frizzell. The show was greenlit for a full season in July; filming commenced in October and wrapped in May 2019. The season consists of eight episodes and generally received critical acclaim. At the 72nd Primetime Emmy and Creative Arts Awards, the season received three awards of its six nominations. Most notably, Zendaya won for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. The season was followed by two one-hour specials in December 2020 and January 2021, before a second season was released in 2022.
Cast and characters
Main Zendaya as Rue Bennett Maude Apatow as Lexi Howard Angus Cloud as Fezco O'Neill Eric Dane as Cal Jacobs Alexa Demie as Maddy Perez Jacob Elordi as Nate Jacobs Barbie Ferreira as Kat Hernandez Nika King as Leslie Bennett Storm Reid as Gia Bennett Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn Algee Smith as Chris McKay Sydney Sweeney as Cassie Howard
Recurring Alanna Ubach as Suze Howard John Ales as David Vaughn Lukas Gage as Tyler Clarkson Bruce Wexler as Robert Bennett Sophia Rose Wilson as BB Tyler Timmons as Troy McKay Tristan Timmons as Roy McKay Javon "Wanna" Walton as Ashtray Austin Abrams as Ethan Daley Keean Johnson as Daniel Dimarco Colman Domingo as Ali Muhammad Paula Marshall as Marsha Jacobs Zak Steiner as Aaron Jacobs Mercedes Colon as Kat's Mom Tyler Chase as Custer Meeko as Mouse Marsha Gambles as Miss Marsha Brynda Mattox as Marie O'Neill
Episodes
Production Development
In June 2017, Sam Levinson was commissioned by HBO to adapt the 2012 Israeli television series Euphoria, created by Ron Leshem, for the United States. On March 13, 2018, the pilot was ordered by HBO and filmed in Los Angeles, California, in June with Augustine Frizzell directing. Speaking to SAG-AFTRA on landing the lead role of Rue Bennett, Zendaya said she was "in a bit of a weird place" in her career and turning down many scripts before she was sent the first season of Euphoria. Describing the screenplay's writing: "One of the things that was special to me was there was never, like, wasted time. It was always moving, something was happening, there was cutting to something. But not in a way that it was confusing. It just kinda stayed with the track of my brain. So it's like when usually you would tune out or start daydreaming about something else, that's when the scene changes." Deadline Hollywood announced on July 30 that the series was picked for a full season with Drake, Kevin Turen, Gary Lennon, Adel "Future" Nur, Daphna Levin, , Daphna Levin, Ravi Nandan as executive producers, in addition to Levinson, Leshem and Zendaya.
Casting Many members of the cast and crew had previously collaborated with Levinson on his 2018 feature film Assassination Nation. Turen had produced the film and it was shot by Hungarian director of photography Marcell Rév, who was also the cinematographer for half the episodes of season 1. Actors Maude Apatow, Colman Domingo and Lukas Gage also appeared in both the film and Euphoria's first season. The rest of the main cast joined the series in October 2018. In June 2019, The Hollywood Reporter alleged that American rapper Stro (Brian Vaughn Bradley Jr.) left the cast in October 2018 due to being "uncomfortable shooting scenes that weren’t in the original pilot script and suggested his character would experiment with homosexuality in future episodes". After "a lengthy back-and-forth with producers", he was subsequently replaced with his Earth to Echo co-star Algee Smith. Cassie's actress Sydney Sweeney said of the recasting "Let’s just say I’m very glad that Algee is playing the character." Zendaya attended the School of Production Design at Oakland School for the Arts with Fezco's actor Angus Cloud. Jack Dylan Grazer was originally cast as Ashtray, but later dropped out before filming and was replaced by Javon Walton.
Filming Principal photography for season 1 of Euphoria began on October 15, 2018, and wrapped on May 24, 2019. Like the series premiere, it was shot in and around Los Angeles. Episode five ("'03 Bonnie and Clyde") was directed by Assassination Nation actress Jennifer Morrison, and episode six ("The Next Episode") by Pippa Bianco. These two women, along with Frizzell, are the only directors for Euphoria other than Levinson. Much of the show was filmed on sound stages provided to production by Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. Shooting locations for the season include Alta Dena Dairy in Temple City, California; Travel Inn in North Hills, Los Angeles; Grant High School; Del Amo Fashion Center; Pann's Restaurant in Westchester, Los Angeles; Moonlight Rollerway; Los Angeles Union Station; and Golden Oak Ranch.
Music
Music supervisors Adam Leber and Jen Malone worked to acquire the extensive licensed music featured in the episodes. A compilation album with eleven tracks from the season (plus two from "Fuck Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob", the 2021 special episode) was released by Interscope Records on May 14, 2021. Leber got his client British musician Labrinth hired to compose the season's score after playing his music to Levinson. Labrinth initially did not want to use his own voice, but Levinson persuaded him. A soundtrack album with twenty seven tracks was released by Sony Masterworks and Milan Records on October 4, 2019.
Release Season 1 was promoted with the tagline "Feel something". Many of the episode titles are references to late-1990s and early-2000s song titles that correlate to the episode itself. The season had its red carpet premiere on June 4, 2019. In the United States, the season premiered on June 16, 2019, and concluded on August 4. HBO Asia released each episode a day after its U.S. premiere, along with Foxtel in Australia. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the entire season was released two days after the finale through Sky Atlantic's streaming service Now. The season became available on the New Zealand video on demand service Neon starting on December 6, 2020. The season was included in a DVD collection with the specials and season 2 in November 2022.
Reception Critical response
For the most part, Euphoria season 1 was met with a positive response from critics, with praise for Zendaya and the ensemble's acting, storyline, visuals, and approach to mature subject matter. However, it met with controversy for the amount of drug use and nudity throughout the show. The critical consensus on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reads "a uniquely challenging and illuminating series, held together by a powerfully understated performance from Zendaya". The season has an as overall approval rating of 80%, with an average rating of 7.4/10 based on 100 critical reviews. Using a weighted average, Metacritic, assigned the season a score of 68 out of 100, based on 26 critics, which it describes as "Generally Favorable". Two days before episode one's release, the Parents Television and Media Council pre-emptively scolded HBO for “grossly irresponsible programming.”
The Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert wrote that "the strangest thing about Euphoria’s most quote-unquote shocking interludes is that so few of them seem to be integral to what the show does best. Rue’s fragmented internal state, her frantic desire to use, and the powerful connections she forges with others that momentarily console her, are the most interesting things to watch. Otherwise, the series’ attempts at portraying modern teenagehood can seem exploitative." Benjamin Lee in a The Guardian piece called the season "one of year's best", writing, "There’s specificity in the problems faced by the teens, whether it’s how pornography has mutated the idea of real-world sex or how to rationalise depressive thoughts when you’re fully aware of your own privilege, and each episode available entered new, enticingly uncharted territory." Sonia Saraiya of Vanity Fair wrote that "Zendaya carries unsettling, gorgeous Euphoria" adding that "HBO’s first foray into young adult drama is graphic, but there’s more to the show than sensational hand-wringing about kids today."
Ratings On linear television, the first season of Euphoria has an average of 560,000 US viewers per episode. During the first ninety days, season 1 averaged 6,600,000 viewers across all platforms (HBO Max and the discontinued HBO Go and HBO Now).
Accolades
The first season of Euphoria was nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards. At the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, the season received one nomination; Zendaya's turn in episode three "Made You Look" won her Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. At the 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, the season was nominated for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) (Labrinth for "'03 Bonnie and Clyde"), Outstanding Contemporary Costumes (Heidi Bivens, Danielle Baker and Katina Danabassis for "The Next Episode"), and Outstanding Music Supervision (Adam Leber and Jen Malone for episode eight, "And Salt the Earth Behind You"). At the ceremony, the season also won two awards, both for the finale: Doniella Davy, Kirsten Sage Coleman and Tara Lang Shah's cosmetics won Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic), and the version of his song "All for Us" won Labrinth Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.
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