‘Euphoria’ Time Jump: What Rue, Cassie, Nate and the Group Are Up to Now

Euphoria finally caught back up with Rue and her high school friends when it returned Sunday night with the long-awaited third season. Creator Sam Levinson had promised a five-year time jump for the characters of HBO’s buzzy drama, and the premiere peeked into the lives of the chaotic core ensemble now as young adults, while dropping hints at what the rest of the group has been up to since we last saw them in the season two finale, which aired back in February 2022.

The new season opened with protagonist Rue (portrayed by Zendaya) attempting to drive her car over the border from Mexico, but getting dangerously stuck. Levinson told The Hollywood Reporter the season-setting scene was inspired by his research into DEA drug busts, once he decided to make Rue a drug mule for kingpin Laurie (Martha Kelly) when the show returned. “I see this one photo of a Jeep stuck on top of a border wall,” Levinson said. “I said to the head, ‘Well, what happened here?’ And he said, ‘Some idiot tried to drive a car over the border loaded with drugs, and it got stuck.’ I thought: That sounds like something Rue would do.”

“We’re seeing them out in the world, in the wider world,” he added of the season as a whole. “We wanted to see them fending for themselves.”

Below, The Hollywood Reporter rounds up just how this group is now fending for themselves — some with jobs in Hollywood, others with OnlyFans aspirations — and how the series kept alive Fezco (the character played by the late Angus Cloud) and honored the late Eric Dane as the 10-episode likely final season of Euphoria begins. (This story will be updated as more is revealed.)