Sydney Sweeney Thought Cassie Hit Rock Bottom in ‘Euphoria’ Season 1

Euphoria Season 2 offered a wild ride for many of its characters. Rue Bennett, in particular, reached dangerous new lows thanks to relapsing on her sobriety. But Rue was far from the only character to hit rock bottom. Cassie Howard also managed to alienate nearly all of her loved ones thanks to her romance with her best friend’s ex-boyfriend, Nate Jacobs. Naturally, fans were shocked by Cassie’s choices during the sophomore season of the show. But nobody was as surprised as Sydney Sweeney.

Sydney Sweeney was shocked when she learned about Cassie and Nate’s relationship in ‘Euphoria’ Season 2

Sweeney, of course, portrays the doe-eyed Cassie on Euphoria. The actor has always been fascinated by Cassie’s arc on the hit HBO show, but she was shocked when she learned of her character’s arc in season 2. The Washington native was actually at a baseball game when she learned of Cassie’s fate. When Sam Levinson (writer, creator, and frequent director of Euphoria) called her up, she slipped under the bleachers to receive the news. Once he revealed Cassie’s love affair with Nate, Sweeney had to stop herself from screaming.

‘The White Lotus’ cast member thought her character hit rock bottom in season 1

Part of the reason that Sweeney was so shocked by the Cassie, Maddy, Nate triangle was because of Cassie’s arc in Euphoria Season 1. Fans will recall that Cassie went through quite a bit in the inaugural season of the show. Because of this, Sweeney assumed that her character had already experienced some of her biggest lows. However, she was clearly mistaken.

“I think that I thought that she had already hit rock bottom in season 1,” Sweeney shared with Shadow and Act. “I was not aware that she could go even further. I think it was exciting to be able to watch the audience go on this ride with these characters, especially Cassie, because she’s a character that you felt sorry for in season 1. I mean, she went through such terrible things and dealt with very adult matters.”

Sweeney explains that Cassie is still working through her trauma from the first season of ‘Euphoria’

Such adult matters include over-sexualization, being coerced into sexual acts, and receiving unwanted advances at a young age. And, of course, Cassie also had to navigate the termination of her pregnancy at the end of Euphoria Season 1. The latter is something Sweeney feels fans fail to consider when questioning why she had such a downward spiral in the sophomore season of the show.

“A lot of people forget that she went through such a traumatic and life-changing event with the abortion and she hasn’t had time to properly digest or work through that within herself,” Sweeney shared with The Wrap. “So there’s a lot of pent-up emotions between that with her father, with her friends, with love… that’s just bubbling inside her. It was just a lot of feelings and emotions and thoughts and craziness. But I wanted everything to come through for Cassie because she is such a thoughtful person. And she’s finally letting it all out. Sometimes just not in the correct ways.”

Clearly, Cassie still has a lot of things to work through from Euphoria Season 1 and 2. However, Sweeney is looking forward to getting surprised by her character yet again in season 3.