Sydney Sweeney reportedly set a clear boundary with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson while he was writing scenes for her headline-making role in the show’s final season.
The 28-year-old has faced a wave of criticism lately over the direction of her character, Cassie Howard, in the HBO drama.
Sweeney has played Cassie since 2019, and the role has frequently involved partial nudity tied to the character’s relationships and storylines.
But in the run-up to the season finale on May 31, viewers said the material escalated significantly, with some fans describing certain moments as “humiliation rituals.”
In season 3, Cassie is shown taking part in a series of increasingly extreme scenarios — including dressing like a baby, pretending to be a dog, having drugs placed somewhere intimate, becoming a giantess, and appearing topless alongside Richard Gere’s son.
These moments are linked to Cassie’s OnlyFans storyline, which begins after she turns to the platform to fund an expensive purchase: a truckload of wedding flowers, when her fiancé Nate (played by Jacob Elordi) can’t cover the cost.
While much of the backlash has been aimed at Levinson for including the scenes, a recent interview suggests Sweeney was not only on board with the creative choice, but also made one key expectation clear — and Levinson agreed.
Speaking to the New York Times, Levinson was asked about Sweeney’s comfort level with the amount of nudity required for Cassie’s arc.
He responded by explaining that Sweeney felt the nudity was an essential part of portraying the character accurately.
“Well, it’s funny. When I first wrote it, I was like, ‘Maybe we shoot all of this and we don’t have any nudity. Maybe there’s ways to shoot around certain things?’”
Levinson explained: “And she looked at me and she was like, ‘Are you kidding? I’m playing an OnlyFans model. You’re telling me you’re going to, like, skirt around it?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, OK, that’s a fair point.’”
Sweeney has also previously addressed the wider conversation around nudity on screen.
Back in a 2022 interview with The Independent, she said she was comfortable with the work she’d done, even when public discussion focused more on her body than her performance.
She said: “I’m very proud of my work in Euphoria. I thought it was a great performance. But no one talks about it because I got naked.”
She added that she believes there is “a stigma against actresses who get naked on screen,” comparing the reaction to how male actors are treated in similar situations.
Noting the double standard, she said: “When a guy has a sex scene or shows his body, he still wins awards and gets praise.
“But the moment a girl does it, it’s completely different.”