Sydney Sweeney Reflects on Her Euphoria Experience: ‘People Judged Cassie… Then They Judged Me the Same Way’

The actress confides that she still thinks of Cassie often and defends a series that she considers misunderstood.

Even though Cassie Howard’s story is now over, Sydney Sweeney isn’t quite ready to move on from Euphoria.

In a long interview with Variety, the American actress reflected on her experience in the HBO phenomenon series, the criticism she received over the seasons and her persistent attachment to her character.

During the third season, Cassie went through many trials: marriage to Nate, financial difficulties, family bankruptcy and even activity on OnlyFans to try to make ends meet. A development which provoked numerous reactions from spectators. Looking back, Sydney Sweeney hopes the series will be looked at differently in a few years:

“I hope that when people take a step back from the madness of the moment and the clickbait of social media, some people will look at it all more closely and say, ‘Hey, maybe we were all completely wrong.’

The 28-year-old star explains that she was always struck by the way in which the public analyzed the treatment reserved for Cassie while sometimes reproducing the same behavior towards her:

“I’ve always found it fascinating that people would criticize the way Cassie is treated on the show…and then do the exact same thing to me in real life. No one seems to realize that the characters are sexualizing Cassie on the show, even though viewers sometimes do the same thing to me.”

Since the success of Euphoria, the actress also says she has had to fight against the caricatured image that the industry can still have of her:

“I fought really hard to not just play roles like Cassie. On the internet, everyone says, ‘Oh, she’s Cassie, she’s typecast.’ However, between seasons of Euphoria, I shot Reality, Christy, The Maid, Eden and Everything But You. Each time, completely different genres and characters.”

Sydney Sweeney even admits that she felt the need to look for even more extreme roles during the filming of the last season: “I remember saying to my producing partner: ‘We need to find even crazier characters.’ My job is only fun when it challenges me. I like to be scared before shooting a scene.”

And even if Cassie’s narrative arc is now over, Sydney Sweeney remains with a small regret: she is not completely satisfied with her destiny:

“I don’t think I’ll ever be happy with where Cassie left off, just because I know there was more to tell. I’ll always wonder what happened to her in the Euphoria universe…”