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Each week, millions of HBO viewers watch the over-the-top drama and various twists and turns of Euphoria.
When the teen series first launched in 2019, one of the breakout stars was Sydney Sweeney.
She has gone on to take on phenomenal acting roles across a spectrum of genres, earning acclaim for her acting.
But some worry that her nude and all-around NSFW Euphoria scenes could ruin her career in the long run.
Can a role be too steamy for a sustainable career?
On Sunday, May 24, Sweeney once again went topless for Euphoria Season 3, Episode 7: “Rain or Shine.”
For the scene, viewers saw the POV of looking up at her while she pretended to have fairly energetic sex.
Topless moments like this one have been going viral throughout the show’s history.
And though her character, Cassie Howard, is an objectively terrible person, she has continued to draw eyes.
Season 3 followed her character’s journey as an OnlyFans creator. Though many sex workers have noted that the “easy money” narrative is not realistic for the vast majority of performers, many viewers have enjoyed the storyline for obvious reasons.
Crisis and reputation management expert Dave Quast spoke to Fox News about the double-edged sword of Sweeney’s nude scenes in Euphoria.
“‘Euphoria’ clearly helped establish Sydney Sweeney as a fearless performer, physically and emotionally, and that’s part of why she broke through,” Quast began.
“The risk is that when the public conversation focuses more on the sexualized aspects of the role than on the performance,” he explained, “the same work that made her seem daring can start to narrow the brand.”
Quast did correctly clarify: “Sexuality on screen is not inherently unserious.”
He added: “The problem is when it becomes the dominant shorthand for the actor.””
Sydney Sweeney models the Comfy lingerie collection for her Syrn brand.
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— fanana hammock (@fananahammock.bsky.social) February 27, 2026 at 1:24 PM
So what is the real challenge?
“For Sweeney, the challenge is not that she has played sexualized roles,” Quast reasoned.
He clarified: “The challenge is making sure those roles continue to read as character choices, not as the entire brand proposition.”
That’s not to say that Quast thinks that her career is doomed, by any measure.
“Visibility is currency, and Sweeney has become one of the rare young actresses who can reliably generate conversation around almost anything she does,” he praises.
Quast acknowledged: “That has real commercial value.”
PHOTO THREE
There are obvious pitfalls to being something of a lightning rod — even if there are commercial applications.
Sweeney’s jeans ad last summer ignited a firestorm, through no real fault of her own.
Conservative panelists highlighted a handful of people who (not unreasonably) found the eugenics implications of the “good jeans” pun to be off-putting.
Against her will, Sweeney became the epicenter of a national discussion. To some, her relative silence after the scandal seemed like a confirmation of people’s worst assumptions, rather than a fear of stirring the hornet’s nest.
Truth be told, her Euphoria role — with Cassie Howard espousing conservative views and hurling slurs — cannot have helped.
There’s a chance that sexualization could make things worse for her. But Sweeney also has a lot of defenders who first paid attention to her because she’s really, really hot.