Barbie Ferreira has said that her Euphoria exit was a “mutual decision” with the showrunners.
READ MORE: Here’s what we know about Euphoria season three
The star, who played Kat Hernandez on the HBO series, revealed back in August 2022 that she would not be returning to the show for its third season.
Reports circulated that she disagreed with show boss Sam Levinson about the direction of her character, with claims that she stormed off season two’s set.
Speaking in a new chat, Ferreira clarified that the decision to leave was “very mutual” and that there was “nowhere to go” with her character, while clarifying that she didn’t storm off set.
“I think instead of me kind of lingering around for nine months, I think it was best for both of us that we just ended it there,” she told The Viall Files podcast.
“Of course it’s hard – I love Euphoria. I love Kat. Kat means the world to me. I spent so many years pouring everything into her, but it’s like, you don’t want to ruin a good thing.
“It was a mutual decision,” Ferreira continued. “It was absolutely not just me. Everyone decided that… there was nowhere to go, and that’s hard obviously because I’m like, ‘What am I going to do?’ But again, with acting, things happen all the time and you just have to have thick skin and make the right decisions for you in your career.”
Speaking about the online discussion around her exit, the star noted that she “was really young” and found it “tough”, adding: “Obviously there was a lot of discourse about it that wasn’t true, and I’m a person who just kind of lets everything happen.
“It’s a popular show, so people took it out of… I never walked off set,” Ferreira then added. “There was never anything like that.
“That was a whole thing, ‘She did all this,’ and I was like, ‘I absolutely never did that.’ You could ask the hundreds of people that were there every day. Fan theories are crazy, and most of the time they’re not right, but sometimes they are.”
This isn’t the first time that the actress has addressed her departure, the star making similar comments in 2023 as she said fans shouldn’t “believe everything you read”.
The third season of the HBO show is expected to debut in 2026, with Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Eric Dane, Dominic Fike, Alexa Demi and Maude Apatow all returning, while Rosalía and Sharon Stone are joining the ensemble.
Recently, HBO‘s executive vice president and Head of Drama Francesca Orsi hinted that season three would likely mark the end of the hit teen drama series.
Talking to Deadline Hollywood, she noted that the door’s still being left open for a potential continuation, but that season three is expected to be Euphoria‘s last: “We’ve talked about it, I don’t think anything is over until it’s over, but it’s been discussed that this is the end.”
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