HBO released the trailer for season two of one of its higher-ranking dramas, Euphoria, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show debuted in 2019 and follows Zendaya’s (Spider-Man: No Way Home) Rue Bennett as a 17-year-old freshly out of rehab struggling with her sobriety, alongside a plethora of connected issues her teenage peers must face, including sexual assault, domestic violence, addiction, and body image issues.
The short video showed Rue taking part in a Narcotics Anonymous meeting with luggage she ominously carried with her throughout her scenes in the trailer. The trailer introduced the return of Rue’s sponsor, Ali (Colman Domingo, Zola), who eventually posed the “64,000 dollar question” of what she was dragging in her suitcase.
The trailer also showed a reunion between Rue and her ex-girlfriend, Hunter Schafer’s Jules, and the arrival of a new relationship between Sydney Sweeney’s (The White Lotus) Cassie and Jacob Elordi’s (The Kissing Booth) Nate. HBO confirmed that its sophomore season will include cast members from the previous season as series regulars, such as Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy), Angus Cloud (North Hollywood), Algee Smith (The Hate U Give), Alexa Demie (Waves), Barbie Ferreira (Unpregnant), Maude Apatow (The King of Staten Island), and will introduce a new character played by musician Dominic Fike.
Referring to the intense subject matter dealt with in the show, creator Sam Levinson (Malcolm & Marie) previously said, “I just feel like there is such a disconnect between what young people are going through and what everyone else thinks they’re going through,” via The Hollywood Reporter. “We didn’t want to pull any punches. We didn’t want to make it feel like we were holding anything back or that we are hiding anything.”
HBO previously released two special episodes surrounding Rue and Jules in December and January of 2020, respectively. As announced in November, season two of Euphoria will premiere on HBO Max on January 9 and will air weekly episodes on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The trailer can be watched below.