Sydney Sweeney's Euphoria Predecessor Show Was So Good, It Deserved At Least 1 More Season

While Sydney Sweeney starred in another critically acclaimed teen drama before Euphoria, this iconic show was canceled far too soon by Netflix. Netflix has a mixed history when it comes to supporting promising teen drama shows. To be fair to the streaming service, its hit teen comedy drama Sex Education not only managed to last four seasons, but also helped launch the Hollywood careers of Ncuti Gatwa, Aime Lou Woods, Emma Mackey, and Connor Swindells, among others.

However, while that show was lucky and became a breakout hit, not every critically acclaimed teen show from the streaming service was quite as fortunate. 2020’s I Am Not Okay With This had all the ingredients necessary to become as big as Netflix’s earlier sci-fi mystery Stranger Things. Like that 2016 hit, the show was a blend of small-town coming-of-age teen drama and supernatural mystery about a sweet young girl with emerging psychokinetic powers. However, unlike Stranger Things, I Am Not Okay With This never got a chance to flourish.

The show was canceled after only one season, and this was neither the first nor the last time that Netflix killed a great teen drama before it could run its course. Even though Netflix’s martial arts drama Cobra Kai had six great seasons to tell its story, the streaming service’s early Sydney Sweeney vehicle Everything Sucks only lasted one season before it was quietly canceled. Thanks to Euphoria, Sweeney went on to become an A-list star, but Everything Sucks never received its flowers.

Netflix Canceled Everything Sucks! Way Too Early

Image courtesy of Everett Collection

Set in the town of Boring, Oregon, in 1996, Everything Sucks was a nostalgic ‘90s comedy-drama about a group of dysfunctional teens. Heavily influenced by future Hollywood comedy icon Judd Apatow’s cult hit Freaks and Geeks, Everything Sucks sadly also mirrored that show’s infamous fate when the acclaimed series was canceled after just one season. Everything Sucks centered on Jahi Di’Allo Winston’s freshman Luke and Peyton Kennedy’s Kate, two troubled teens navigating awkward crushes in their high school.

While both Luke and Kate were compelling characters in their own right, Everything Sucks season 1 gradually proved the series was an ensemble piece as all the local teens got a chance to make an impression. Sweeney’s Emmaline Addario, a drama student who is Kate’s first crush, is one notable example. Before the future Euphoria star and certified Law & Order: SVU fan girl became a major star with roles in blockbusters like Anyone But You and The Housemaid, she stole the show as the messy but entrancing Emmaline.

Sydney Sweeney’s Success Since Everything Sucks! Highlights Netflix’s Mistake

Sydney Sweeney in Euphoria season 3 episode 6 on HBO Max

In the eight years since Netflix announced the cancellation of Everything Sucks, Sweeney’s career trajectory has gone on to prove just how misguided the streaming service’s choice was. Admittedly, box office flops like Eden, Christy, Madame Web, and 2022’s Americana prove that Sweeney isn’t the most reliable money-maker on the big screen. However, the $400 million box office payday of The Housemaid proves that she is a massive draw.

Similarly, although the third season of Euphoria received a mixed critical reception after a multiple-year hiatus between outings, Sweeney’s role in the first two seasons was widely lauded. Meanwhile, her parts in Sharp Objects and The White Lotus prove she has serious small screen critical credibility, even outside the global success of Sam Levinson’s divisive teen drama. Thus, it’s clear that Sweeney was a star on the rise in 2018.

Sadly, Netflix failed to see just how much potential the high school students of Boring, Oregon, had when the streaming service canceled the show prematurely after only ten episodes. As a result, anyone who loves a good teen drama needs to check out Everything Sucks, but should come armed with the awareness that its early cancellation casts a long shadow over its short run.