“Euphoria” returned its two-and-a-half year hiatus on Sunday. The Zendaya-led teen drama drew 2.4 million viewers for its Season 2 premiere, which doubled its prior record of 1.2 million for the show’s Season 1 finale back in August of 2019.
HBO said “Euphoria” had the best performance of any HBO original series on Max, which wasn’t even around in 2019. Digital viewing was more than 9 times higher than the season 1 premiere, nearly 4 times higher than the season 1 finale and nearly 10 times higher than both special episodes that debuted last year.
Much like every other production trying to film over the past year and a half, “Euphoria” faced significant delays in shooting its second season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown and quarantine mandates. Two “Euphoria” specials aired in December of 2020 and January of last year.
Both of those “Euphoria” episodes — the first of which focused on Rue and the second of which centered on Jules (Hunter Schafer) — were meant to be “bridge” installments between Season 1 and Season 2. The specials, titled “Trouble Don’t Last Always” and “F*ck Anyone Who’s Not A Sea Blob,” respectively, were filmed with limited cast and crew under COVID-19 safety guidelines.
“Euphoria” was created and written by Sam Levinson, who also serves as executive producer and directed five episodes of the first season. Other executive producers on the series include Zendaya, Ravi Nandan, Kevin Turen, Drake, Future the Prince, Hadas Mozes Lichtenstein, Ron Leshem, Daphna Levin, Tmira Yardeni, Mirit Toovi, Yoram Mokady, Gary Lennon and Jim Kleverweis. Scott Turner Schofield serves as transgender consultant and Jeremy O. Harris as a consultant. Ashley Levinson is a producer.
The drama is produced in partnership with A24 and based on the Israeli series of the same name, which was created by Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin.