Season 1 premiered in June 2019 to instant critical acclaim and widespread popularity. Loosely based on an Israeli series of the same name, the show follows a group of high school students as they navigate friendship, love, sex and drugs. Despite some backlash about what some critics considered to be excessive sexual content, season 1 was largely praised for its mature depiction of the lives of teenagers.

In addition to racking up industry accolades, Euphoria inspired plenty of fan tributes to the characters’ vibrant makeup looks. The show also earned Zendaya her first Emmy nomination — and later, win — for her portrayal of Rue, who struggles with drug addiction.

“It’s like one of those out-of-body things, where it’s like, is this even really happening to me?” the former Disney star told Deadline in August 2020 of learning she’d scored an Emmy nod. “It still feels very, very surreal. I don’t know if it will feel like it’s real life. ‘This isn’t happening to me. This is happening to somebody else.’”

Though some parents worried about the edgy behavior on display in the show, the Spider-Man: Homecoming actress pointed out that the characters aren’t designed to be role models.

“My job is to tell stories, and I definitely don’t think that Euphoria is meant as a guide to tell people to follow a moral high ground of any sort, or what the right thing and the wrong thing is to do,” she told Deadline. “That’s definitely not what our show is here for. It’s really just to tell stories, and hopefully somebody out there can connect to it and see themselves within it.”

HBO renewed the hit series in July 2019 before the season 1 finale even aired, but production on season 2 was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Two one-off specials about Rue and Jules (Hunter Schafer) debuted in December 2020 and January 2021, respectively, but a season 2 premiere date has yet to be announced.

“I suppose one of the few beneficial side effects of this f–ked-up year is the distance between season 1 and season 2,” creator Sam Levinson told GQ in December 2020. “It’s really difficult to insulate yourself from the response and write from the same place of creative freedom, because you know what people liked, or didn’t like. I just hope we can continue to explore and stay curious and experiment, so the show can grow in whatever way it does.”

Keep scrolling for everything we know so far about season 2 of Euphoria:

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This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Eliza Thompson