Zendaya really is shaking it up, alright.
The Disney Channel alum, 22, is returning to the small screen next month in a highly anticipated new HBO series, and playing a much darker character than “Shake It Up” fans are used to seeing.
In Euphoria, Zendaya steps into the shoes of Rue — a recovering, lying teenage drug addict who returns to high school after a stint in rehab only to find herself in a relationship with a mysterious new student.
“I promise you, if I could be a different person, I would,” she says in the trailer for the gritty drama, which dropped over the weekend. “Not because I want it, but because they do.”
Topics of identity, sex, love, substance abuse, trauma, and social media will all be tackled in the show’s 10-episode season. And Zendaya’s character’s teen troubles won’t be the only ones viewers follow. Maude Apatow (Girls), Sydney Sweeney (Sharp Objects), Eric Dane (The Last Ship), Algee Smith (The Hate U Give) and Jacob Elordi (The Kissing Booth) also star.
Euphoria is based on a 2012 Israeli series of the same name, written by Sam Levinson, and produced by Drake — who got his start in the industry back in the day thanks to a role on another television series: Degrassi: The Next Generation.
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Last week, Zendaya transformed into another character — Cinderella.
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala, the actress arrived to the star-studded event in a black and blue corseted Tommy Hilfiger ballgown with white puffy sleeves and a full A-line skirt. And thanks to the help of her fairy godmother, stylist Law Roach — with the wave of his magical wand — it caused her entire outfit to light up.
Zendaya completed Cinderella’s look by styling her hair in a blonde French twist, securing it with a headband, and adding a black choker for the finishing touch. A glittering pumpkin-carriage Judith Leiber clutch and “glass slippers” completed the look.
She also went so far as to leave a “glass slipper” behind on the iconic Met Gala stairs — and once inside, she changed into a pink dress, echoing the one Cinderella’s mice made for the ball that her stepsisters destroyed — and into which Cinderella changes back into once the magic wears off.
Euphoria premieres on HBO on June 16.
