Demand for new Euphoria is at an all-time high, and while fans’ palates were a bit whetted when the Euphoria Season 3 release trailer dropped in recent days, we’re still a bit out from new actual episodes. But when you can’t have new content, SNL will give you the next best thing: a cut for time parody of HBO’s popular drama, this one with Sydney Sweeney and Zendaya up to some more... unusual antics.
Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard was Saturday Night Live’s new host this past week, and he endeared audiences with Stranger Things potential spinoffs sketch, as well as his Harry Potter and Heated Rivalry crossover. The latter wasn’t the only amusing references his episode was supposed to make about HBO and the HBO Max subscription service, either, but the one with all the Euphoria jokes was cut for time.
Thanks to the beauty of the Internet, however, you can give it a watch now.
In the “Euphoria Writer” skit, Finn Wolfhard dons a fake goatee and starts talking possibilities for Euphoria Season 3 since there are still a few plot points that need to be worked out. They bring in a network TV writer most recently from Reba McEntire’s Happy Place, who immediately starts pitching absurd plotlines like Rue being a “chocoholic” instead of a real addict.
The fantasy continues, with James Austin Johnson’s writer character talking about how Sydney Sweeneys “chesty” character could come in to make the whole thing even more sitcom absurd. He’s horrified to find out the type of stuff HBO is putting on TV tonally, and suggests a separate plot where the entire cast of Euphoria would come “back from Christmas break,” and only Zendaya’s read Moby Dick, leading the other kids to "crane" their necks to see her work.
Honestly, the conceit of this entire bit is hilarious, with the newbie coming into the writer’s room and having really no concept of what Euphoria is actually like tonally. He's continually trying to turn it into a half-hour network sitcom akin to shows like Boy Meets World. It’s definitely worth a watch from that standpoint, but it’s also less all-out hilarious than the Potter/Heated Rivalry bit, and I can see why it was cut for time when they had two sketches spotlighting HBO.
Thank goodness these live on in infamy on YouTube, however. What’s not ready for primetime or even late night still deserves to be seen in it’s fully fleshed out glory. Now, I just can’t wait to see what gets cut from time when Teyana Taylor hosts this week. And what else James Austin Johnson has in store, outside of his scarily good Donald Trump impression.
