Zendaya Renegotiates Her Contract With HBO

Zendaya-starring HBO teen drama Euphoria wrapped up its second season in February of last year. The third season of one of the most adored and watched television programs in existence was eagerly anticipated by viewers. However, it was announced shortly after season 2 ended that season 3 would not air until 2024. To the disappointment of many fans, it would probably be at least two years before we saw the troubled youngsters once more.

Since then, a couple of the leading stars from the show have generated some contentious headlines. Sydney Sweeney of Euphoria said in July 2022 that she was unable to take a significant sabbatical from acting due to financial constraints. Barbie Ferreira, who plays Kat on the show, then declared in August that she would not be joining the cast for season 3.

Following a few months without much controversy, February saw a couple more Euphoria actors get into legal issues. Chloe Cherry was charged with shoplifting a blouse at the beginning of the month. Then one of the lead actors in the program found himself in a tough predicament. Euphoria actor Angus Cloud, who plays Fez, was charged with hit-and-run driving on February 20 in Los Angeles. He wasn't a recognized suspect, but police were still trying to find him and speak with him. But despite all the drama involving her cast mates, lead actress Zendaya got some good news this week.

Zendaya modified her contract with the show, according to Matthew Belloni's story on Puck on Monday (Feb, 27). Zendaya would reportedly receive a significant pay increase from HBO for her breakthrough role as Rue. Belloni allegedly stated that going forward, she would make almost $1 million per episode. According to Belloni, Zendaya recently completed a significant re-negotiation on HBO's Euphoria, which certainly places her close to that group.

Only a select few actors receive this much money per episode. They reportedly include John Krasinski for Amazon Prime's Jack Ryan and Kevin Costner for the television series Yellowstone. With this compensation increase, Zendaya will undoubtedly join the elite group of television series performers, and rightfully so. According to reports, production on season 3 of Euphoria will start this year. Thus, Zendaya will soon bring even more of her renowned star power to HBO.