The highly-anticipated HBO drama series, Euphoria, premiered Friday night and had the interwebs shook — even for us here at Shadow And Act.

The content led Zendaya to post a PSA note on social media ahead of the show’s debut.

Despite how most feel about the show in general (created by Sam Levinson and boasting Drake among its producers), mostly everyone seems to agree that the actress, entering a new phase in her career, is delivering an incredible performance.

Prior to its premiere, the Zendaya-led series received a glowing review of its first few episodes from us: “Zendaya masterfully and powerfully leads this brutal and emotional depiction of 2019 teenage life,  obliterating her Disney image while delivering what is sure to be among the best performances on television in 2019.”

Now, in a post-mortem, the starlet is filling folks in after the drug-filled, sex-filled and violence-filled pilot. “Let’s just say like, the first episode is the most mild, to be honest. It definitely doesn’t shy away from anything, that’s for sure.”

She also spoke about the controversy that the series is drawing and if she is prepared for it. “Yeah, of course. There’s going to be like lots to say about it because it’s so honest in a lot of ways. I mean, it is what it is, but I think at the end of the day, it’s someone’s story. If it’s not your personal story, it’s someone’s story. Specifically like literally some of them are literally Sam’s stories,” she said.  “I think another thing is, this show is not meant to be a political statement. I think that we don’t want it to be that. We just want it to be a reflection in a beautiful way of storytelling that allows people to think and connect and feel however they choose to feel about it. But it’s definitely not supposed to be this political statement about the world, you know what I mean? I think we tap on things and discuss things that are tough, but again, it’s storytelling. It allows the audience to see things how they choose to.”

The 22-year-old also explained why the role is “game-changing” for her. “For me, for such a long time I felt stagnant in my career because I have been doing the same thing since I was 13 years old. Not that I didn’t appreciate it or love it — I think it’s important for me to embrace where I come from and embrace the work that I’ve done in my past — but it became so easy. It’s like doing the same grade over and over and over again. You gotta go to the next grade. You gotta graduate.”

Euphoria airs Sundays on HBO.

 

READ MORE:

‘Euphoria’: Zendaya Gives One Of The Year’s Best TV Performances In Provocative HBO Drama That’s Like Nothing You’ve Seen [Review]

‘Euphoria’ Full Trailer: A Raw Depiction Of High School Through The Eyes Of Zendaya In HBO Drama From Drake, A24

 

Photo: HBO