Zendaya is at the beginning of a very busy 2026. The actress has four major film projects opening this year, beginning with next weekend’s black comedy rom-com, The Drama, and then continuing with The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, both in July, before concluding with Dune: Part Three at the end of the year.

In the midst of these film releases is the Season 3 premiere of her HBO series, Euphoria, which debuts on April 12. The show helped prove that Zendaya was a powerhouse of an actress, earning her two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Critics’ Choice Television Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama series. Beginning in 2019, Euphoria became a watercooler series across demographics, and it achieved critical acclaim, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, along with its fair share of controversy due to its unflinching portrayal of drug addiction, sex and violence taking place within a high school setting.

Soon that controversy sparked rumors of behind-the-scenes drama that included a toxic set environment, grueling 15-18 hour workdays, a delayed third season, and a strained relationship between creator Sam Levinson and Zendaya, following what began as creative harmony between the pair. Now, with Season 3 set to premiere very soon, it hasn’t gone unnoticed that Zendaya, an actress with a strong social media presence, hasn’t promoted the upcoming third season at all but she has spoken candidly and enthusiastically about her other upcoming projects. Is she avoiding promoting Season 3 because she isn’t happy with the direction? Let’s dive in!

Leave it to eagle-eyed fans of Euphoria to notice the promotional silence from Zendaya regarding the launch of the third season. Zendaya has a massive 176 million followers on Instagram, and she is known to strategically post about upcoming projects and about the style trends she’s setting. The official third season trailer for Euphoria dropped on Jan. 14, but Zendaya didn’t post it on her Instagram page or even include it on her Instagram Story.

Other main performers from the show, such as Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi, included it on their social media, but not a peep was heard from the series’ star. However, beginning 15 weeks ago, Zendaya began posting about The Drama, her new film with Robert Pattinson, which is scheduled to open next Friday. She has since posted the trailers for Dune: Part Three and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but still nothing for Euphoria. This didn’t stop the Season 3 trailer from hitting a record 100 million views in two days for HBO, but it was glaringly clear that the person with the biggest social media pull of the cast and its star wasn’t a part of making that record happen.

You’d have to go back 138 weeks to the last time Zendaya posted anything Euphoria-related, and that was a tribute to her co-star Angus Cloud, who passed away from an accidental drug overdose at the age of 25. Following the conclusion of Season 2 in 2022, which arrived later than anticipated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, after the show premiered in 2019 to much fanfare, stories began to emerge about the Euphoria set being an unhealthy work environment. What began as creative harmony, particularly between Levinson and Zendaya, the latter of which also served as an executive producer, which also led to the two working on the film Malcolm & Marie, a movie that became the first Hollywood film to be written, financed, and produced during the pandemic, allegedly began to fracture.

This began when she reportedly felt that Levinson was pushing Euphoria to the side to focus on other projects, most notably The Idol, the series starring The Weeknd that was met with widespread criticism upon release. Zendaya and Levinson were reportedly completely in sync during the first two seasons, with the actress even shadowing Levinson so she could direct during Season 3 but this all seemed to change following the conclusion of the second season and the development of the third, which would feature a time jump to get the cast, some well into the 30s, out of the high school setting.

Levinson was supposed to serve only as a producer on The Idol, but behind-the-scenes issues led to him taking over the show completely, and this put Season 3 of Euphoria in limbo. Zendaya allegedly grew so frustated by the delays, likely due to feeling creatively energized about where the series could go and because of a growing and busy movie schedule, something that also became a factor for much of the younger cast, she went to HBO Chairman and CEO Casey Bloys and EVP and head of drama Francesca Orsi to discuss why Levinson was allowed to make The Idol, also an HBO series, a priority at the expense of Euphoria, which had already become a critical and ratings success for the cable network. Then there were reports of a toxic work environment on The Idol, which inadvertently began to involve Zendaya because it opened the door to looking into how things were being run on Euphoria, which led to the discovery that things weren’t completely harmonious there either.

Reports soon surfaced about how Levinson managed the Euphoria set, and what emerged were tales of a creator and director who was more improvisational and one who didn’t work with a proper shot list. This would often lead to rough 15-18 hour workdays that became hard on the cast and crew, which even extended to some of the background actors who alleged that they weren’t allowed bathroom breaks and were denied adequate holding areas during the filming of the show’s second season. Some of this was caused by a key figure passing away. Kevin Turen, who was an executive producer on the series, was greatly liked by the cast, but before his passing, he and Levinson split as creative partners, which led to Levinson’s wife, Ashley Levinson, stepping into his role.

This reportedly caused cast morale to deteriorate as she often clashed with them and members of the crew and allegedly made Zendaya assert that she didn’t want Ashley to be the only executive producer during Season 3. The drama surrounding the creative break-up between Levinson and Turen got so bad that Turen’s family barred him and his wife from the funeral, according to reports, with some saying that the financial pressure of their split led to Turen overworking so much that it put a strain on his health. In addition to his passing, the sudden loss of Cloud also put the cast and crew into emotional turmoil because he was well-liked by everyone and was the heart of that set, as he was the heart of the series.

Zendaya wasn’t the only member of the cast to be affected by behind-the-scenes unrest. Other actors, most notably Barbie Ferreira, who portrays Kat, often were at odds with Levinson over the direction of their characters. This reportedly led to Ferreira walking off the set twice, although she later downplayed a lot of the drama. She did ultimately exit the series and won’t be involved in Season 3, and this is also the case for Storm Reid, who portrayed Zendaya’s younger sister on the show. Reid hasn’t really discussed any clashes on set, but her departure does hint at script changes heading into the third season that affected certain potential returns. The delays on Season 3 got so bad that many fans believed the show wouldn’t return, especially as the film careers of Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Elordi, and Sweeney began to take off. It had to be frustrating as the delays made their schedules difficult to manage, as they had other priorities, but they were bound to at least return for the third season of Euphoria.

The Season 3 delays continued due to Levinson’s commitments to The Idol, which only reportedly strained his relationship with Zendaya even more. Scripts took forever to complete, and once they were, some of them weren’t to the liking of Zendaya or the heads at HBO. One of those ideas was to have Zendaya’s Rue be a private detective, which was rejected by the series’ lead and HBO. Another idea brought by Zendaya, for Rue to be a surrogate mother, was also turned down. As this played out in public, it became clear that everyone involved was trying to salvage something that could work for Season 3 while Zendaya, along with her castmates, was balancing other priorities.

Zendaya, who has managed to cultivate a pristine persona in an industry that sometimes tries to find anything to tarnish it, was briefly labeled as the cause of some of these issues due to her film commitments, but that seemed to ring very false as Elordi, Sweeney, and Schafer were also booked and busy. An idea was ultimately settled upon for the third season that seemed to please Zendaya, HBO, and Levinson, with reports saying that the pair were at least getting along creatively, but it still felt like a lot of damage had been done.

This leads us to the launch of Season 3 on April 12, and, because of knowing all of these behind-the-scenes issues, it looks more and more like Zendaya’s promotional role has been minimal at best. Sweeney and Elordi have expressed their fondness for what was done on Season 3, with the latter saying it could be the best the series has ever been for his character. However, keep in mind that this is an ensemble, and while the creative direction of their characters could be something they’re very happy with, it doesn’t mean that’s true of everyone on the show, including Zendaya. Rumors circulated at one point that Alexa Demie, who portrays Maddy, had creative differences with Levinson over the direction of her character, and it also hasn’t gone unnoticed that Zendaya and Demie actively support each other on social media, with Demie liking recent posts on Zendaya’s Instagram regarding the premiere of The Drama.

What’s obvious is that Zendaya was recently on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote The Drama, but didn’t speak on Euphoria at all. She did discuss Spider-Man: Brand New Day in vague terms due to its trailer launch, but those vague terms were more about keeping Marvel secrets and not because she isn’t proud of the project. Some have said that since she’s promoting several things at once, maybe something has to take a backseat, but it wouldn’t be hard to post a trailer, something she didn’t do for Euphoria, even though she posted about the show on her socials during the first two seasons.

Zendaya recently made brief comments about the upcoming third season with Variety on the red carpet of The Drama, but even those comments were met with raised eyebrows. She described filming the third season as a “whirlwind” because she had to film eight episodes in four months compared to the eight-month schedule she had during seasons 1 and 2. When asked if she had seen any of it, she stated she’s “seen a little bit” of it so far, and after expressing some excitement, she said, “I hope it turns out beautifully.” These have really been her only statements about the third season so far. Enough for a pleasing soundbite, but short enough that fans still suspect getting to a third season and getting through it likely became a very stressful experience.

This may be something some fans are overthinking, but it’s a bit strange when a series’ star isn’t actively promoting a show’s upcoming launch. Rumors are still swirling about behind-the-scenes drama, and that was only pushed to the forefront when Labrinth, who was responsible for the series’ signature musical sound, recently posted, and since deleted, a very pointed all-caps tirade against the show and his record label, Columbia, by saying he’s “Done with this industry” and “Double F*** Euphoria.” He could be having a disillusionment with the industry as a whole, but his mention of Euphoria is interesting, as it hints at even more issues this show can’t seem to shake.

What’s clear is that Zendaya still isn’t promoting the show. Official key art was released for the series yesterday, which has been shared by Schafer, Sweeney, Mauda Apatow, Colman Domingo, and Alanna Ubach on their stories, but not by Zendaya. A new trailer is reportedly being released this weekend, so we’ll have to wait and see if she promotes that in any capacity, but it’s a shame that some of this is hanging over something that once brought Zendaya such creative passion. It was a series she was obviously very proud of, but now a lot of that seems to be up in the air. This is what happens when the drama behind-the-scenes starts to become even more prevalent than the fictional drama playing out on screen.

Euphoria Season 3 premieres April 12 on HBO.

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