The second season of HBO’s Euphoria will be without an expected new cast member. According to ComicBook.com, Kelvin Harrison Jr. (The Trial of the Chicago 7, The High Note) will no longer be appearing in the series. Harrison broke the news in an interview with Entertainment Weekly this past week.
According to ComicBook.com, Harrison cited scheduling conflicts as the reason he would no longer be co-starring in creator Sam Levinson’s (Assassination Nation, Another Happy Day) provocative series on American teen life. While details of his character remain sealed mystery, Harrison spoke a little about his role in an interview with Teen Vogue last May.
“I can almost argue that it has not been done,” Harrison said via Teen Vogue. “It’s interesting, it is definitely a character of the time, and that’s all I got. He’s interesting,” Harrison stated via Teen Vogue. Apart from this opportunity, Harrison has been quite busy in both TV and film. He currently appears in Apple TV’s period drama, The Godfather of Harlem, which premiered its second season last month. On the film side, he recently appeared in last year’s Oscar-nominated film, The Trial of the Chicago 7, which was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin (The Newsroom, The West Wing). He also stars in the new Netflix film, Monster, an adaptation of the Walter Dean Myers (Slam, Scorpions) novel.
According to ComicBook.com, the second season of Euphoria was confirmed to be in production by its lead actress, Zendaya (Malcolm and Marie, Spider-Man: Far From Home). She posted photos of the cast and crew returning to work on her Instagram page. Euphoria tells the story of Zendaya’s Rue, a Gen Z teenager whose mental disorders have her fighting for sobriety, among other things. The series, loosely based on Levinson’s own struggles with substance misuse and mental health, stars a host of new talent including Alexa Demie (Waves, Mainstream), Jacob Elrodi (The Kissing Booth, The Kissing Booth 3), Storm Reid (A Wrinkle in Time, The Invisible Man), Hunter Schafer, Barbie Ferreira (Unpregnant), Sydney Sweeney (Nocturne, Everything Sucks), Maude Apatow (This Is 40, Knocked Up), and Algee Smith (Judas and the Black Messiah, The New Edition Story). They are joined by Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy, The Last Ship) and Colman Domingo (Zola, Without Remorse).
Since season one ended in 2019, HBO has released two special hour-long episodes focused on Zendaya and Schafer’s characters. The series earned Zendaya a record-setting Emmy win as she became the youngest – and only second Black actress – to covet the award for Lead Actress in a Drama Series. All episodes are currently available to stream on HBO Max.