Sydney Sweeney’s NSFW Euphoria Scenes Were Just Fine For Her

Sydney Sweeney wants the world to know that she’s very comfortable with her provocative scenes on Euphoria, thank you very much. In an interview with the New York Times’ Popcast podcast, published after the series finale on May 31, Euphoria writer-creator Sam Levinson said the actor wanted to keep her NSFW scenes for Season 3, despite going further than ever before.

In the long-awaited third season of the HBO series, Sweeney’s character, Cassie Howard, becomes an OnlyFans model to afford her dream wedding to Nate (Jacob Elordi), much to his dismay. However, after finding out about his $1 million debt (and how violent his creditors are), she turns it into the family business, working with her former BFF Maddy (Alexa Demie) to grow her following.

Naturally, a storyline involving OnlyFans would include nudity and oft-uncomfortable sexual content, but Levinson tried to downplay it onscreen. “Well, it’s funny, when I first wrote it, I was like, maybe we shoot all of this and we don’t have any nudity, maybe there’s ways to shoot around certain things?” he said.

Sweeney wasn’t having it. “She looked at me, and she was like, ‘Are you kidding? I’m playing an OnlyFans model. You’re telling me you’re going to like, skirt around it?’” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, OK, that’s a fair point.’”

Indeed, Sweeney went all the way, acting out various kinky scenarios for Cassie’s OnlyFans subscribers and even donning a giant inflatable bustier for a fantasy scene where her character becomes Godzilla-sized and practically destroys Los Angeles.

“Look, we’re tackling this world of OnlyFans where women are being paid to, like, whisper into an ear-shaped microphone,” Levinson said. “There is a level of absurdity to it that is just fun, and we’re always trying to come up with ways to make it feel authentic and humorous and dramatic and also speak to the larger wants and wishes of the character.”

He went on to sing Sweeney’s praises, calling her “a totally fearless actor” and gushing about how easy she is to collaborate with. “She’s also just wonderfully professional and shows up just game every day,” he said. “I adore working with her because there’s such a flexibility in terms of the performance. There’s a lot of trust that we have.”