The Euphoria Kids Grow Up—And Go West

Camille FreestoneMon, April 13, 2026 at 12:42 PM UTC

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The Euphoria Kids Grow Up—And Go WestWarner Bros.

The first episode of Euphoria’s third season begins with Rue making her way through the desert from Mexico to California, Christopher Cross’s 1979 “Ride Like the Wind” playing in the background. The cast of the hit TV show, first released in 2019, has grown up—at least, in theory. It’s been five years since they finished high school, they’ve moseyed through their college years (some in school, some not), and moved west. Set in and around Los Angeles, the characters have gone rogue, each on some bizarre, scheming, money-making endeavor to find their foothold in the world as young adults. And the high-octane glam we fell in love with some seven years ago has shed its suburban lens for a bit of a western twinge—what a recipe for the costumes.

The new costume designer, Natasha Newman Thomas, known for her work on The Wolf of Wall Street and Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” music video, had a monumental task ahead of her: inserting herself into the framework that the previous costume designer Heidi Bivens built, one that brilliantly captured the teen zeitgeist and sparked more than a few viral trends in real life. Newman Thomas, who had previously worked with Levinson on The Idol, relaxed into the time-traveling leap, translating all new trials and tribulations into each character’s wardrobe. “It's not high school anymore,” she says. “Each character has their own universe.” And those universes entail the usual twenty-something adventures: new jobs, weddings, the beginnings and endings of relationships—plus a dusting of life-threatening missions, OnlyFans accounts, strip clubs, and more. This is Euphoria, after all.

We checked in with Newman Thomas ahead of the premiere of Euphoria season three to talk about constructing wardrobes across the time jump, not leaning too far into the western theme, and, of course, the wedding episode.

Warner Bros.What an undertaking. How was it to come into something that was not only well established but really took hold of the zeitgeist so thoroughly?

I had worked with Sam before on The Idol, and when he and Ashley [Lent] approached me to do this season, I was so flattered because it had such a societal impact on fashion and culture. I was very honored that they felt I was up for the challenge, but I was also a little bit reluctant because the concept of stepping into an established aesthetic is something that isn't historically appealing to me, but then they reassured me of the huge time jump and asked me to “just read the scripts.” I read them and was like, “Well, I can't not do it. These are the best TV scripts I've ever read.”

How did you approach the jump forward? It's something that's been done quite a few times, especially in teen TV.

Sam and I had a whole day when we were just starting pre-production, where we sat and really dove into each character's backstory, and the psychology of why they would do certain things, and who felt more stagnant and who felt like they had really progressed. And then I like to have phone calls or meetings with actors so that we can get on the same page about the psychology of the character. They know these characters a lot better than I do. They've been playing them for so long. So I was able to learn a lot, and we were able to collaborate on a backstory that isn't visible in the show, per se, but would inform the way each character dresses and why.

Warner Bros.Who makes the biggest departure in that jump forward, do you think?

It's tough to say. They're all natural progressions, but Lexi was actually a really fun one. I'm imagining she went to a liberal arts school and made friends with people who were like, "Fast fashion is bad for the environment." She discovered wearing vintage, so you are able to express a unique sense of individualism because no one else can go out and buy it. That epitomizes her character wanting this independence. She's still quirky and fun and a little bit buttoned up, but through a different lens.

Also, Maddie works in PR now, so she's got access to brands. She lives in L.A. There's an incredible Jimmy Choo showroom here. She's able to level up her fake-it-till-you-make-it wardrobe and wear incredible brands in her day-to-day life to display this level she's risen to. We were trying to figure out how to justify vintage couture. She's obviously a very savvy shopper, but I was thinking she works for this woman, Ms. Pensler, who has an incredible closet and probably is like, "I'm not going to wear that thing from that '90s Gaultier suit." And so she's just giving Maddie things. With Jules, there are snippets in later episodes of her college years, so you get to see a little bit more of the transition. It's not quite just a stark jump.

Rue has her staple pieces that carry her through. Emotionally, she hasn't developed much. Her style reflects that, but she's also very nomadic, moving through all these different experiences like a chameleon, collecting things from each place. And Cassie's whole transition happens on screen. There's no secret, no gaps to fill in with Cassie.

Nate has a natural progression. It's all about presentation for him. He's trying to simultaneously present as a contractor and a hard worker but also get these really wealthy people that he's mixing with to invest in him. So he's investing in himself and his pieces. The Bottega Veneta collection that he wears a lot of really, really did that perfectly. It just happened to be a match made in Euphoria.

Warner Bros.It does really feel like Euphoria goes west. How much were you thinking about that sort of environmental shift?

Sam and I talked about approaching this like a western in a lot of ways. I'm a huge fan of Once Upon a Time in the West. I've probably watched it a million times. You definitely see that in Alamo's world and in Lori's world, but we tried to modernize it. We weren't making a period piece.

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Every top to bottom, every single person is fun for me. James Landry Hébert, who plays Harley, was a really interesting conversation because he came in with this super like, “this is a Western” concept, and was pitching me heritage brands that had been making dust coats for a hundred years. And I was like, "No, no, no, you're going to wear clothes that you thought were cool when you were like 16, and then you went to jail and got out and are excited to keep wearing those clothes, and you still listen to the same music, and it's probably metal, and this is your trajectory." And we really talked it through, and once he was on board, he was like, "This is fucking amazing." It's not a traditional Western.

There's such a distinct color scheme. And I know that so much of that comes from lighting and post-production, but how much were you thinking involved in that element?

Marcel Rev, the cinematographer, and Francois Audouy, the production designer, and I were all constantly in conversation about color. And Anthony Carlino, the set decorator, and I talked every day. He was like, "What's Cassie wearing for the pool scene? Because once I know I'll get the upholstery made to complement it. " So every single thing you see, there was a lot of conversation behind it to make that color story cohesive.

Warner Bros.Okay. The wedding. Where did you start?

We started with Cassie. I tried to put myself in her brain and think, what would I want? There's all of this scripted material about the $50,000 worth of flowers she wants. She's obviously in this power play with Nate to get him to fork over all the dough, and he's trying to please her. She always wears Cartier jewelry and has this honking diamond ring. I was just like, okay, Cassie probably wants to feel like a princess. She wants to feel hot. She wants everything you can think of that's a little bit camp, but that she doesn't realize is camp. We were trying to straddle the line of making the most beautiful wedding dress that has ever existed, that also has a pinch of tackiness.

Who designed the dress?

I reached out to Jackson Wiederhoeft. He's such a master of his craft. It's the Euphoria wedding. It has to be iconic and special. I sent him visual references, we talked a ton, and he started sending me sketches. He was sending me overnight FedEx fabric swatches from New York. We did this very magical remote collaboration. Sydney happened to be in New York doing press and I was like, "Hey, while you're there, can you stop by Jackson's to get fit in a corset?" And I wanted a big bow. I wanted it to become the mini-est mini skirt you ever saw with gloves and all these transitions. And Jackson and I figured it out together and I'm very over the moon with his work. He really is the master.

I was also trying to get in Cassie's mind about the bridesmaids and was like, "Lexi will hate this, and Cassie won't even consider that. " We put her in this super crazy Nana Jacqueline bow dress that couldn't be more antithetical to Lexi's personal style. We had to show that Cassie does not give a fuck about anyone else." But then there's Maddie, who's going to show her up.

Warner Bros.The main characters really stick out like sore thumbs in the audience.

Maddie’s green vixen dress had to be equally strong to Cassie's wedding dress. That was one of the biggest challenges for me on the show. I was looking at tons of vintage John Galliano with Alexa, and she found this dress she loved that I was able to source. We tried it on, and it just wasn't good on her. I had to top that. I started meditating about it. I was meditating with that intention, and the image of that dress just appeared in my mind. I sat up and sketched it and took it to my tailor and was like, “This is what we're doing." She was like, "That's architecturally impossible." And I was like, "No, it's not. We're going to figure it out because it has to be this."

Rue was in a vintage men's suit from the ’50s, which she could have feasibly picked up at the Goodwill. We wanted it to match Jules in the Acne runway dress. And of course, Jacob is stunning in custom Bottega Veneta. And Cassie's wedding shoes—we had to have her say I do in Choo because that's what she would do.

The show really captured teen spirit in the first two seasons. How did you engage with that now that they’ve grown up a little bit?

There were never really any boundaries on Euphoria, but when you're imagining the audience being the same age as the characters, there's a very different approach, I would imagine, than when they're a little bit older. The gaze is broadened. I can't speak to it that well because I didn't do seasons one and two, so I just approached this season the way I would approach anything else.

Warner Bros.Is anything ever too extreme for Euphoria?

I don't think so. I'm trying to push boundaries wherever I can because that's what makes things dynamic and interesting, and starts conversations, whether people like it or not, at least it's able to create a dialogue.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”