Sydney Sweeney may have become a household name thanks to her role as Cassie Howard on HBO’s “Euphoria,” but that hadn’t stopped the actress from feeling like she had been typecast. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 24-year-old explained how playing a sexualized role in the teen drama had subsequently left people with the wrong perception of who she was outside of the show.
“Cassie is a sexualized character, and that became a mould that was then [forced] onto me as a human instead of just Cassie,” Sydney expressed. I was seeing people say, ‘Oh, she only got this because she showed her boobs.’ I had multiple shows and movies before I even did Euphoria.”
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“I look very different in everything I do because I want to become the character individually, and I don’t want people to associate Sydney Sweeney with a character – I want them to fully feel like they’re experiencing another world and another person.” Prior to starring in Euphoria, Sydney had appeared in shows such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Everything Sucks! and also played Snake in the 2019 blockbuster Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.
Last year, Sydney also had a recurring role as Olivia Mossbacher on The White Lotus, which she believed became an opportunity to show people that she was more than just the oversexualized character she has been known for playing in Euphoria.
Channeling a new identity and embodying a new part on-screen seemed ever-so-important to Sydney if she was going to show the world — and her fans — that she can be multiple characters without people trying to typecast her as only being an actress who can play certain roles centered around sex appeal and looks.
“People didn’t tie in that a couple of months before, I did Handmaid’s Tale, or before that, I was in Everything Sucks,” she continued. And a month before that I did Sharp Objects and when people then started putting that together and then seeing The White Lotus, I think that’s what kind of turned it for everyone.
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“You look at some of these incredible male actors who get to play the coolest, most diverse characters, and people are just like, ‘Oh, cool.’ No one ever puts any type of stigma behind it.”
Meanwhile, earlier this year, HBO announced it had renewed “Euphoria” for a third series, but the company made no mention of how long fans will have to wait to watch the upcoming season. It’s wildly been speculated that the third run won’t air until sometime next year, considering its lead star Zendaya is reportedly booked and busy for the remainder of the year filming several movies, including “Challengers” and “Dune: Part Two.”