Zendaya to get $1M per episode for 'Euphoria’ season 3, becomes one of the highest paid TV actresses
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Zendaya has reportedly negotiated a massive deal with HBO ahead of the third season of the sensational series 'Euphoria'. The 26-year-old Golden Globe-and Emmy-winning actor will now be earning around $1 million per episode for her deeply poignant portrayal of 'Euphoria’s notoriously unreliable narrator Rue Bennett.
The 'Spiderman: No Way Home' star, who became an executive producer on the show for its second season, recently “closed a big re-negotiation on HBO’s Euphoria that likely puts her close to” other stars pulling in $1 million per episode, Puck’s Matthew Belloni reported. Zendaya’s new salary is reputedly the highest of the show, despite its low viewership compared to many other less well-liked programs on network television. However, it's unknown how much the other main cast members of Euphoria are making in comparison to her.
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The paydays of 'Euphoria’s stars have been oft-discussed, especially since Sydney Sweeney disclosed how less screen stars are making in the current entertainment industry climate. "They don’t pay actors like they used to, and with streamers, you no longer get residuals, which denies actors a long-term source of income from their past roles," Sweeney, who portrayed the role of Cassie, said while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter for a profile published in July 2022.
"The established stars still get paid, but I have to give five percent to my lawyer, 10 percent to my agents, three percent or something like that to my business manager," she continued. "I have to pay my publicist every month, and that’s more than my mortgage," she added. 'Euphoria' first premiered in June 2019 and became an overnight sensation, raising the profile of its main cast. The success of the first season made producers come up with the second season, which was released in 2022.
Unfortunately, the second season saw a major viewership decline, but it was Zendaya’s sensational acting performance that kept the audience hooked. For her portrayal of Rue Bennett, Zendaya earned two Emmy awards for Best Lead Actress in a Drama in 2022. In 2023, she also won her first-ever Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series. The success of 'Euphoria' has solidified Zendaya as an A-list star and made her one of the highest-paid actors in the industry, according to Daily Mail.
Zendaya has now joined the group of celebrities who have earned $1 million or more, including, the main cast of 'Friends' in their last three season, the main cast of 'Game of Thrones', Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon for 'Big Little Lies', and Elisabeth Moss for Apple's 'Shining Girls'. According to a Deadline report in 2021, Angela Bassett set a record for the highest-earning Black female actor on network television, earning $450,000 per '9-1-1' episode.