“Euphoria” may have garnered Nika King and her castmates critical praise and some awards season love, but the actor is feeling the financial squeeze more than two years after the HBO series’ second season aired.
King, who plays Leslie Bennett on “Euphoria,” said during a recent stand-up show that she doesn’t know when fans can expect new episodes of the show.
“Season 3 is coming out — I don’t f**king know,” the actor and comedian said, as seen in a TikTok video she shared Monday. “Don’t ask me, I don’t know. It’s one of those things. People are like, ‘We need Season 3.’ I’m like, ‘Bitch, I need Season 3.’ I haven’t paid my rent in six months.”
King then took a playful dig at her co-star, Zendaya, who plays her character’s daughter, Rue Bennett.
“Zendaya’s over in Paris at Fashion Week,” she quipped. “I’m like, ‘Bitch, come home! I need you. Mama needs you!’”
A two-time Emmy winner, Zendaya has been making the red carpet rounds on both sides of the Atlantic to promote “Dune: Part Two,” which also stars Austin Butler, Timothée Chalamet and Florence Pugh.
Although King’s bit about Zendaya was meant in jest, she said her recent lack of steady employment was no laughing matter: “I haven’t booked nothing since ‘Euphoria.’ This is some bullshit.”
“Euphoria” was officially renewed for a third season in early 2022. In November, however, HBO’s CEO Casey Bloys clarified that that the series wouldn’t return until 2025, partly as a result of the actors and writers strikes that brought most of Hollywood to a standstill last year.
Since then, many of the show’s actors, including Colman Domingo and Jacob Elordi, have shared their thoughts on the delay.
“[Creator Sam Levinson] is a person who writes and rewrites and writes and rewrites again, because I think he’s wrestling with what’s important,” Domingo, an Oscar nominee for Netflix’s “Rustin,” told GQ last month. “He’s responding immediately to what the ills of the world are. I know that the one thing I can tell you is that he’s very much interested in the existential question of who we are right now. Our souls. That’s what he wants to figure out with Season 3.”
Elordi, who plays teen jock Nate Jacobs, joked to “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon in January that the “Euphoria” creative team might have to find a way to de-age him if the production delay was extended.
“They’re going to have to Benjamin Button me or something,” he said. “I’m going to have a bad back walking down the hallway.”
As for King, she’s apparently found some solace after reaching out to Taraji P. Henson. The “Empire” actor has become increasingly outspoken about the professional inequity she’s faced as a Black woman in Hollywood even after achieving major success on television and in film.
“I called Taraji,” she explained. “She’s like: ‘Bitch, get used to it.’”