Ever since Euphoria Season 3 introduced its shocking five-year time jump, fans have been eager to learn what truly happened to its main characters during those crucial years.
While the new season has pushed Rue, Nate, Cassie, Jules, Maddy and Lexi into darker & more mature storylines, the series has surprisingly avoided exploring the emotional events that shaped them into these adult versions. That absence has become especially noticeable with Nate’s increasingly manipulative behavior, Cassie’s unstable search for validation and Lexi’s sudden shift in confidence and ambition.
While the previous seasons of the Sam Levinson-created series thrived on character-focused storytelling, often dedicating entire episodes to personal histories and hidden trauma, Euphoria Season 3 has largely skipped over the crucial transition between adolescence & adulthood, leaving viewers to fill in the blanks on their own.
However, with reports suggesting the Euphoria Season 3 finale will be 93 minutes long, fans are hopeful that this extended runtime will be used to revisit those missing years and conclude the season on a satisfactory note.
More on this in our story.
The Euphoria Season 3 finale is set to become the longest in HBO’s history
According to recent reports, the Euphoria Season 3 finale has a runtime of 93 minutes. While Sam Levinson’s psychological teen series has used every hour to explore complicated narratives and tricky romantic relationships in the past, it has rarely had an episode longer than 60 minutes, with its longest clocking at 65 minutes. This makes one wonder, why is the final entry of Season 3 this long, making it almost like a feature film?
In addition to becoming the longest episode of the series, the Euphoria Season 3 finale is set to make history on HBO. The upcoming finale is set to become the longest entry in HBO’s history, a title earlier held by Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3, which is 82 minutes long. While GoT and its spin-off series, House of the Dragon, feature many episodes exceeding the one-hour mark (with many running for over 70 minutes), the Euphoria Season 3 finale will make a new record with its 93-minute runtime.
The Euphoria Season 3 finale could dive into its characters’ backstories
Now that Euphoria has revealed its history-making runtime for the Season 3 finale, fans are convinced the series is coming to an end. While HBO has not yet canceled the series post-Season 3, behind-the-scenes cast feuds & exits, controversies and rumours suggest that the Zendaya-starring series could take its final bow after its 93-minute finale.
While nothing is confirmed yet, fans are hoping that the Euphoria Season 3 finale will deep-dive into the backstories of the remaining characters, especially newlyweds Nate and Cassie. Since the series is known for its much-loved psychological deep dives, fans are hoping Season 3 will utilize its long finale to fill in the gaps in Nate, Cassie and Lexi’s stories.
A Reddit user hopes the long finale will explore the characters’ backstory in the off-screen five-year time jump:
”I feel like with how crazy this show can get and that big of a time jump everyone should’ve gotten a recap. Like yeah it’s nice we got Rue, Jules, Maddy (we’re probably getting Nate and Cass as well). But I wanna know what people like Lexi and Elliot were getting into.”
With Season 3 introducing a major time jump, many fans believe Euphoria should dive deeper into its characters’ backstories to justify the questionable choices they make as adults. A Reddit user rightly pointed out:
”Why have we still Not gotten A recap for Cassie, Nate and Lexi over the past 5 years? we got one for Maddy and jules. I feel Like Nate needs one so the audience can understand why he is the way he is now.”
Some users even want the Euphoria Season 3 finale to shine a spotlight on its new (and much-loved) characters of Bishop and Laurie.
While many fans are speculating that the Euphoria Season 3 finale is gearing up to reveal its characters’ backstories and end the season on a satisfactory note, this Reddit user has another convincing theory:
”The wedding episode was listed as being comparably long because it featured a more extensive Making of featurette after the credits. There’s a good chance this will be similar. A 70 min episode is still great though.”
Whether the extended 93-minute finale explores the characters’ pasts remains to be seen but doing so could add much-needed emotional depth to Euphoria’s bold time jump. If handled well, those backstory reveals may finally help viewers understand how these troubled teens evolved into even more complicated adults.
The Euphoria Season 3 finale is scheduled to air on HBO on May 31.
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Edited by Aashna