Euphoria's Sydney Sweeney explains how she relates to her character (2024)

Sydney Sweeney's Euphoria character, Cassie Howard, wears her heart on her sleeve pretty much all the time in Sam Levinson's dramatic HBO show.

In a new interview with Deadline, Sweeney has opened up about the challenges of playing such an emotional character and how she relates to someone like Cassie. Sweeney told Deadline that, while she often tries to find characters she doesn't "connect to at all" in order to challenge herself, Cassie is actually an exception to that rule.

"I always want to challenge myself so that I can better my craft. Cassie, I think is one of the most relatable characters to me, because I search for love in other people and acceptance, and I'm scared of being alone. I was a teenage girl, too, so I definitely relate to her, but most of my characters I try to be vastly different from," Sweeney said.

Still, the role of Cassie is surely a draining one for the actress, given the emotion she displays in all of her scenes and the dramatic nature of the show itself. So far, in two seasons, Cassie has had a dramatic and troubled love affair with Nate (Jacob Elordi), suffered traumatic moments in her relationship with ex-boyfriend Chris (Algee Smith), including an abortion, attempted to ruin her sister's play, and has been beaten up by Maddy (Alexa Demie).

Despite the intensity of these storylines and the subsequent intensity of filming these scenes, however, Sweeney has said that she doesn't find it difficult to separate herself from Cassie. The actress, who also stars in the TV series The White Lotus opposite Connie Britton, did elaborate, however, that Cassie has taught her a thing or two about herself.

"I think that she has taught me to let go of insecurities that I may have. And she has taught me to fully allow myself to just engulf myself in her emotions," Sweeney said.

Related: Euphoria's future confirmed by HBO beyond season 2

"It's been a really beautiful experience to be able to play out all of her different, crazy emotions that she's been having to deal with. It's been really fun."

For her performance in season two of Euphoria, Sweeney earned an Emmy nod this year for best supporting actress in a drama series. That was one of two nominations she received at this year's Emmys. The other was for the aforementioned The White Lotus, for which she was nominated for best supporting actress in a limited series/anthology series/TV movie.

Sweeney will also be starring in the hotly anticipated Madame Web movie, one of several upcoming Sony Spider-Man Universe movies. Sweeney will be playing Julia Carpenter.