Former Euphoria star Barbie Ferreira has opened up about her exit from the show, admitting it “wasn’t worth it” amid her “diminishing” role.
The star played the role of Kat Hernandez in the first two seasons of the HBO drama, though exited ahead of the newly-premiered third run. She clarified last year that her departure decision was “very mutual” and denied reports that she walked off set.
Ferreira has now spoken further about her decision to leave, explaining that she wanted to showcase “different roles”, with the star now releasing new indie films Faces Of Death and Mile End Kicks.
“If Euphoria was going to serve that for me, I would have happily done it forever, however long it would have been,” she told Deadline. “But it wasn’t really letting me show my range. In fact, it was kind of diminishing as time went on, and it was like, what makes me happy is acting and growing my career.”
The star said despite the show’s popularity, she looks to “portray different roles and characters and learn about acting and filmmaking and getting characters with depth”, which she felt wasn’t the case for Kat after season one.
“It just felt like a very personal decision where I, really deep down, don’t care if what I’m doing is the biggest show of all time, as long as I’m creatively fulfilled,” Ferreira continued. “It’s truly all that I care about, and so, I try to always think that way.”
She said that indie filmmakers “took a chance” on her in a way that major studios wouldn’t because of her “diminishing role on Euphoria“.
“It has freed up everything,” the star added. “When one door closes, an indie door opens, and it’s very different. Obviously, I’m not on a show that is so talked about and famous and all these things, and that was really fun to do at the time, but it just, for me, wasn’t worth it for my ambitions as an actress.”
Euphoria season three sees the likes of Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney and Hunter Schafer return, with the characters time jumping a few years into the future.
The weekend’s season premiere also featured tributes to late stars Angus Cloud and Eric Dane, and executive producer Kevin Turen, who have all passed away since the second season aired a few years ago.
Meanwhile, Zendaya recently suggested that the new episodes may be Euphoria‘s last, adding on The Drew Barrymore Show: “That closure is coming”.
In other news, musician Labrinth has addressed his departure from the show for the third season, saying he doesn’t “let people treat me like shit”.