The new season of Euphoria has certainly got a lot of people talking, and a lot of that seems to be down to Sydney Sweeney’s sex scenes.
Starring as Cassie in the highly-anticipated third season of the HBO show, Sweeney has taken on a new role as an OnlyFans star, and things are getting progressively weirder throughout the season.
We’ve already seen her pose naked in baseball gear and take part in something known as ‘sploshing’, when she dripped ice cream down her naked body.
Although she’s faced criticism from real life OnlyFans content creators, the American actress has spoke about feeling empowered and confident thanks to her role as Cassie, and it seems as if the creators have no plans to stop with her latest character arc.
That was exemplified in last night’s (10 May) episode when the 28-year-old went topless in an episode which fans online are describing as ‘full-on insane’, and it’s easy to see why.
The latest episode of Euphoria pushed more boundaries (HBO)
Sweeney’s OnlyFans career is propelling at a rapid rate thanks to her new manager Maddie, and it’s seen her have sexual conversations with ‘fans’, play with sex toys and masturbate on screen and wear nothing but her birthday suit.
She’s even selling her used underwear and complying with requests for a ‘fart in a jar’, which isn’t too dissimilar from what real-life influencers try and flog.
It’s also probably a knowing reference to the fact that Sweeney herself made a killing selling soap she claimed was made from her own used bathwater.
But perhaps the strangest scene yet took place while Cassie was dreaming, as she is seen in a leopard-print set which she quickly bursts out of, before growing so much that she’s as tall as buildings, like some sort of kinky King Kong.
After stomping around a city and sending a helicopter spinning out of control with her ponytail, she spots a tiny man in an office block watching one of her OnlyFans videos.
There was a frankly bizarre dream sequence (HBO)
The scene ends with her exposing her breasts to the guy, which shatter the window of the office building. OK….
Rue (Zendaya) says in a voiceover: “She knew this was her destiny—to triumph, to conquer, to win. The world was hers. She had finally been unleashed.”
Even though it was a dream with a rather obvious metaphor for her sky-rocketing success on the X-rated platform, it still drew a lot of confusion from fans about this frankly bizarre storyline.
While a cynic might suggest that sexualising Sweeney’s body is a simple way of driving up viewership, since shock value sells these days, it seems as if the actress is fully on board.
She told Grazia: “When I saw The Voyeurs [Sweeney’s 2021 film] for the first time, I wondered if I’d done too much. I researched celebrities who have done nude scenes, trying to make myself feel better.
“There are hour-long compilations of world-famous male actors with nude scenes who win Oscars and get praised for that work. But the moment a woman does it, it degrades them. They’re not actresses. They just take off their tops so they can get a role.
“I don’t think as many people took me seriously in Euphoria because I took my shirt off.
“There’s such a double standard. I really hope I can have a little part in changing that.”
Cassie is now an OnlyFans star and is leaving very little to the imagination (HBO)
Director Sam Levinson has also defended the season three storyline and spoke about wanting to push the boundaries of the modern discussions around online sex work.
“[Cassie] has got her dog house and her little dog ears and the nose, and that has its own humor,” Levinson explained to The Hollywood Reporter in April.
“But what makes the scene is the fact that her housekeeper is the one filming it.”
He continued: “What we wanted to always find is the other layer of absurdity that we’re able to tie into it so that we’re not too inside of her fantasy or illusion,” the 41-year-old added.
“The gag is to jump out, to break the wall.”