'Euphoria' Stars Zendaya, Hunter Schafer & Dominic Fike Talk Season Two's Controversial Love Triangle

Zendaya and Hunter Schafer are teasing some of what’s to come in Euphoria season 2!

In the trailer for the upcoming season, which drops on Sunday (January 9), there seems to be a love triangle forming between Zendaya‘s Rue, Hunter‘s character Jules and newbie Dominic Fike, who plays Elliot.

While fans who were rooting for Rue and Jules to get back together may have found themselves worried by the teaser, the two actresses recently revealed they also weren’t sold on the idea of a love triangle when they learned about it.

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“There were a lot of conversations over the years about where the show was going to go and what it was going to evolve into, and I remember when Sam [Levinson] first kind of talked about the idea of this Elliot character, I wasn’t feeling it — as someone who ships ‘Rules’ to the bitter end,” Zendaya said, per Variety. “And I was like, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, what are we doing here? But, in retrospect, and also as someone who understands where the show needs to go and what needs to happen for these characters, it’s crucial that Elliot exist and that he be the person that is honestly the catalyst for a lot of things that just have to happen.”

Zendaya added that she thought Dominic was an amazing addition to the cast and that it was worth it to have him come in and shake up the plot.

“I think I was in a similar boat to Z when I first heard about this ‘Elliot boy,’” Hunter admitted. “But, you know, as we saw more of what it brought into the story and the script, it became a more interesting and exciting prospect, and once Dom came on board, he made it a lot of fun.”

The pair also opened up about the long delay between seasons 1 and 2, which was caused by COVID-19.

“We were just in our heads and kind of worried about having to chase the idea of what ‘Euphoria’ was to so many people, and the pressure and fear that kind of came with that,” Zendaya explained. “I think taking a step back allowed us to get back inside of Euphoria in a different way and allowed it to grow on its own.”

Both Zendaya and Hunter starred in two special episodes created during the pandemic, which gave fans some new content while they waited for season 2 and allowed the actresses to explore their characters.

“We were kind of given the space to experiment with what is known to be quintessential Euphoria, and the episodes were made in quarantine which meant they had to be downsized and more specific, which gave us experimental freedom,” Zendaya said.

“Before we took on the very serious ambition of Season 2, the specials were an amazing testament to giving things a shot that you don’t know will work out, especially if they don’t follow the formula that Season 1 followed that ultimately made it a hit show,” Hunter added, sharing that co-writing the episode was one of the “most insane artistic experiences” of her life.

When asked by Variety to weigh in on the love triangle between Rue, Jules and Elliot, Dominic Fike said: “I can’t wait to see where people go with that and for all the hate messages I’ll get on my Instagram… and going into hiding. I can’t wait.”

New episodes will debut weekly on HBO and will also be available to stream on HBO Max starting January 9. Check out the trailer here!