Sam Levinson has addressed a polarizing moment in season three of Euphoria in which Sydney Sweeney’s character Cassie appears dressed as a dog.
Euphoria has long had a reputation for shock value, but some viewers feel the newest run of episodes — widely thought to be the show’s final season — crosses a line.
The drama returned on Sunday (April 12) following a four-year break, with HBO releasing episodes weekly.
Early reaction has focused heavily on a sequence in the premiere where Cassie, played by Sydney Sweeney, creates content for her OnlyFans account while wearing a dog outfit. In the episode, she launches the page to help pay for her planned wedding to Nate (Jacob Elordi).
The scene escalates into “puppy play,” with Nate holding the leash Cassie is wearing.
Since airing, some people online have branded the moment “embarrassing,” with others describing it as a “humiliation ritual.”
Showrunner Sam Levinson has now weighed in, explaining what he aimed to achieve with the divisive beat.
“[Cassie] has got her dog house and her little dog ears and the nose, and that has its own humor, but what makes the scene is the fact that her housekeeper is the one filming it,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
“What we wanted to always find is the other layer of absurdity that we’re able to tie into it so that we’re not too inside of her fantasy or illusion — the gag is to jump out, to break the wall.”
He also described how the team approached the lighting to contrast Cassie’s curated fantasy with the harsher reality around it.
Levinson went on to say: “Some of these scenes we only lit with these ring lights that she would use… When you’re inside, it’s a beautiful, glowing front light, but then you jump out of it and it’s just a pool of light and everything surrounding it is dark. It’s just gnarly and jarring.
“We wanted to capture what she’s trying to show the audience and be inside of it, but then also pull back wider and see how depressing it is.”
Elsewhere, another clip drawing backlash appears in a teaser for upcoming episodes, where Sweeney is shown dressed like a baby.
Some critics have labelled it “weird as f**k” and asked why the Anyone But You actor would agree to film it.
“Whoever made her do that baby pose with baby pacifier needs to be jailed,” said another, adding: “That sh*t is uncomfortable.”
Another viewer complained that Cassie’s storyline was promoting “nothing but vulgarity.”