Kelvin Harrison Jr. will no longer appear in Euphoria season 2. One year ago, it was announced that he'd taken on a role for the Zendaya-starring HBO series, which is executive produced by Drake. Euphoria was renewed for a second season in July 2019, before the first had even ended.
Euphoria follows the exploits of Rue Bennett (Zendaya), a drug-addicted 17-year-old trying to keep herself clean while dealing with the rigors of high school existence. Meanwhile, her friends deal with their own problems, which mostly comprise matters of identity. It's a show that has a lot of shocking moments relating to trauma and life as a teen, and with strong performances from Zendaya and the rest of the cast, it's garnered a large fanbase. Filming for Euphoria season 2 was supposed to commence last year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production was delayed. Now, Euphoria could soon be headed into production, but Harrison is no longer involved with the series.
In a recent interview with EW, Harrison revealed that, due to scheduling conflicts, he will not appear in Euphoria season 2. At the moment, there's no word on how the creatives behind Euphoria will handle Harrison's departure.
There is very little known about Harrison's character at this point, and that is just one of many questions fans have going into season 2. While there aren't further details about this development, it is known that Harrison will be appearing in Baz Luhrmann's forthcoming Elvis Presley biopic. Considering that particular film is currently in production, there's a chance it was one of the projects that conflicted with filming for Euphoria. It is also possible that Harrison considered the Elvis film or any other projects he is working on to be more lucrative, so he opted to leave Euphoria rather than jeopardize those opportunities.
It's unclear how central Harrison's character was to Euphoria season 2, but from the looks of things, Harrison's departure leaves producers with two options: recast the role or create a new character. Because his character wasn't introduced in Euphoria season 1, there's a good chance his role doesn't have anything to do with the events that have transpired up to this point, so they can probably be flexible. Depending on when filming for Euphoria season 2 actually begins, HBO might soon be announcing a new actor to take over Harrison's role.
Source: EW