'Parents will freak out': why the sexed-up teen drama Euphoria is HBO's most shocking drama yet

As the Game of Thrones hype fades into wistful nostalgia, HBO has found a new way to get everyone’s attention. Euphoria, its first ever teen drama, takes the trend for edgy content to a new extreme, making Netlfix’s 13 Reasons Why feel like an “after-school special”.

Euphoria is based on an Israeli series of the same name, which aired from 2012 to 2013. Both shows deal with sex, drugs, alcohol, nudity, violence, and the teen experience. The original series, which was set in the 1990s and focused on Generation Y, was advertised with slogans such as “Where are your children now?” and “17 is the new 30.” The nature of the content was such that it couldn’t be broadcast before 10 pm.

HBO’s version of the show has been updated to reflect the 21st century, Gen Z experience, with social media adding to the influx of pressures. The series follows Rue, a “lying, drug-addicted 17-year-old” played by the 22-year-old former Disney star Zendaya, and a wider group of high school students.

While Game of Thrones was known for its prolific use of nudity (the show also came under fire for the inclusion of a “gratuitous rape scene”) Euphoria is apparently still more explicit than its HBO predecessor. One episode features almost 30 penises, including shots of an erection. Other scenes include the statutory rape with a 17-year-old trans girl, a drug overdose and sex involving strangulation.

The graphic content reportedly caused one star to quit while shooting the pilot. Brian “Astro” Bradley, a 22-year-old former X Factor contestant who was playing a character called Chris, allegedly left the show mid-shoot. He was replaced by The Hate U Give’s Algee Smith, who reshot Bradley’s parts, including a sex scene with 21-year-old Sydney Sweeney. Describing his role, Smith explained, “My character goes through a lot of vulnerability issues, masculinity issues. That’s really important for me to talk to other black men [about] because we’ve grown up thinking that’s not cool.”

The series also stars Maude Apatow, the 21-year-old daughter of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann. She described the edgy show as “a good insight into how hard it is to grow up in this time” and said that she hoped her parents would watch it.

Another cast member, 22-year-old Barbie Ferreira, had to film a scene where a man masturbates to her over Skype. She revealed that such moments were handled by the show’s intimacy coordinator, Amanda Blumenthal. “If you got a visit from Amanda that day, you knew it was going down,” Ferreira commented.

Eric Dane, who, despite playing one of the teen’s parents is also involved in a sexually explicit scene, praised Blumenthal for providing a “safe environment” for everyone on set. Unlike the original Israeli series, which only implies a parental presence and didn’t show mothers and fathers on screen, Dane’s character’s life becomes entwined with that of the teenagers.

The series was produced by Drake, the internationally famous Canadian rapper, and was created by Sam Levinson, a 34-year-old former child actor and son of director Barry Levinson, who wrote material based on his own experiences as an addict.

He opened up about his past at the Euphoria premiere. “I spent the majority of my teenage years in hospitals, rehabs and halfway houses,” he told the audience. “Sometime around the age of 16, I resigned myself to the idea that eventually drugs would kill me and there was no reason to fight it. I would let it take me over, and I had made peace with that.”

Levinson, who appeared in his father’s movies Bandits (2001) and What Just Happened (2008) commented, dryly, that he went into rehab to “get off opiates and on a more productive drug like crystal meth.” He explained how a certain revelation changed his life – the idea that “In the end we are nothing more than an amalgamation of our actions and that’s ultimately what defines us.

“It really spooked me,” he explained “in a sense that if I were to die today, who would I be? I’m a thief. I’m an addict. [...] There was this voice that was clear as day that said, ‘stop f------ doing drugs.’ I’ve been clean for 14 years.”

Levinson has predicted how his new show will be received. “There are going to be parents who are going to be totally f------ freaked out,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

Speaking about about filming intimate scenes with his young cast, he said “There’s a lot of movement in the show in terms of camera. In terms of the sex scenes, the main thing we tried to do is keep the camera still … You want to allow for the awkwardness and the discomfort to bleed into it.”

HBO did express concerns about some of the programme’s graphic content. Levinson intended to open the series with a shot of the birth of Zendaya’s Rue. The network reportedly had an problem with the explicit image, but the scene had already been filmed, using a vagina double for Nika King, who plays Rue’s mother.

Another disagreement occurred about a scene in the second episode, which features several naked high school boys. Levinson said the original shot included around 80 penises, but only a trimmed-down version made the final edit.

Zendaya appears to be using the risque series as an opportunity for reinvention. “I’ve only really done family movies, so everybody sees me a certain way,” she told THR.

According to Variety, she said Euphoria “explores the dark, but there’s also hints of moments of light and hope. And then it’s gone and then you find it again … That’s how life works.”

Levison has discussed the potential risks involved in creating such shocking content. “I think any time you put anything on screen, you run the risk of glamorizing it just by the nature of it being on screen,” he explained.

“I don’t want [to be triggering], but we also have to be authentic about it … I think people can tell if we’re pulling our punches and not showing the relief that drugs can be. It starts to lose its impact.”

But Levinson was keen to stress that the show wasn’t a cure for addiction issues. “People react so differently to different things,” he said. “I don’t look at it as someone will watch it and they’ll be OK. But I do think it’s important that we as a culture – we as parents, we as brothers and sisters – have empathy for the struggles [people] are going through.”

As we wait for the show to hit screens, we can only guess whether the controversial series will prompt euphoria, hysteria or an underwhelmed shrug from a seriously jaded audience.

Euphoria is released on June 16 in the US. The UK release date is yet to be announced.