There is a scene in episode two of US teen drama Euphoria when dozens of naked high-school boys swarm around the show’s leading jock, Nate, in a locker room, his eyes pained as he attempts to avoid the flailing slow-motion genitalia surrounding him. When the sequence – said to be a homage to Brian De Palma’s 1976 horror Carrie – aired in the States in June, it triggered a panicked response: horrified viewers counted a total of 30 penises in the scene. The president of the Parents Television Council claimed that the content was too graphic for its target audience. Critics wrote numerous articles dissecting this now-viral moment, one claiming it was “pointlessly gratuitous”. They should be relieved. It was originally supposed to be 80.

Euphoria, written and directed by Sam Levinson (Assassination Nation) and executive-produced by Drake in partnership with indie production company A24 (Lady Bird, Moonlight, Hereditary), is to Gen Z what the brilliant Skins once was to millennials. Eight episodes seen through the eyes of 17-year-old drug addict Rue (played by former Disney darling Zendaya) and already renewed for a second season, it has all the makings of a provocative, hit teen drama: a cast of hot young things, such as model Hunter Schafer and Mid90s star Alexa Demie; a super-credible soundtrack, including Billie Eilish, Migos, Doja Cat and Lizzo, among others; and a shed-load of complaints, obviously.

Levinson, 34, clearly has a lot to say about sex, social media, anxiety and addiction, but what sets Euphoria apart from other teen dramas is that this is, in part, his own story.

“For better or worse, a lot of it comes from my own experiences with anxiety and addiction,” he says, recalling an adolescence spent in hospitals, rehab centres and halfway houses until he finally got clean aged 19. Because of his past experiences, HBO – which was already interested in remaking the original Israeli version of Euphoria – asked him to write about his formative years.

“I wanted to make a show about the anxiety of being young and the insecurities and unsureness of relationships, but I wanted to do it in a way that I felt we hadn’t seen before,” he explains. “Every time we deal with tough subjects or gritty material, it’s done in a docu-drama way. I wanted to do something that didn’t rely so heavily on characters talking about their feelings because one of the toughest aspects of being young is not being able to articulate how you feel.”

Levinson was so keen on Zendaya for the lead that he stuck a picture of her on his initial mood board of characters. In a twist of fate, the role was exactly what The Greatest Showman star was after, in a Miley Cyrus-style move away from her Disney past. “I was like [to Levinson]: ‘There’s no way that you’re able to see the work that I’ve done and think that I’d be capable of delivering that performance,’” recalls Zendaya. “Thank whoever that he did, because, you know, you need people to believe in you.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest All the young dudes... high-school life in Euphoria. Photograph: HBO

“I was having this weird section in my life where I didn’t really know what I was going to do next,” says the actor, who was last seen in the Spider-Man reboot opposite Tom Holland. “Everything I was reading just wasn’t right. I was like: ‘I’m not going to have a job. I don’t know what I’m doing.’ Then Euphoria came along and all the worries that I had had before, or ideas I’d had about what I needed to do or should do, just went through the window. I was just like: ‘I want to do this. This feels right.’”

Whether it’s Levinson’s script (excerpt: “Every now and then, if I focused too closely on the way I breathed, I’d die. Until every second of every day, you find yourself trying to outrun your anxiety and, quite frankly, I’m just fucking exhausted”) or Zendaya’s career-defining performance, it’s hard to argue with Nylon magazine that Rue’s plight is “TV’s most realistic portrayal of anxiety”. That’s what a lot of people will relate to, if nothing else.

“It’s really hard to depict a drug addict without an audience feeling judgmental towards them but [Zendaya] brings a humour, a warmth and a fragility,” adds Levinson. “She’s the beating heart of it; you empathise with her in a way that I could never imagine. Tapping into having that kind of compassion for someone going through addiction is really important to that person’s eventual sobriety.”

When all of this graphic content makes a Skins house party look like a sleepover at the Gilmore Girls’ house – and in light of 2017 teen drama 13 Reasons Why recently removing its graphic suicide scene two years after it first aired – does Euphoria take it too far? Despite being shocked by what he’s seen up to now, TV critic Boyd Hilton doesn’t think so. “Even in the current wave of edgy teen dramas – like Sex Education, 13 Reasons Why and Elite – Euphoria outdoes them all,” he says. “It does feel like a show that is taking the teen drama genre to a new level of boldness, which can only be a good thing.

“It feels a bit try-hard but also fully justified in exploring how young people are dealing with the everyday realities of addiction, peer pressure, sexuality and gender,” Hilton adds. “It addresses these aspects of life with wit and bravado. The infamous 30 penises scene is a self-conscious attempt to shock, but it also works as a knowing observation about how on-screen male nudity is squeamishly treated in comparison to female nudity. And it is a dramatically valid portrayal of a teenage jock’s issues inherited from his dad’s fucked-up attitude to sex.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Youth club... Sam Levinson and Zendaya. Photograph: Monica Schipper/Getty for HBO

Not all of Euphoria’s problematic scenes can be so concisely explained away. And there are many, in the pilot episode alone. Although praised by many critics, including Rolling Stone, for a creative direction that is “visually striking throughout, full of moments lit to look both menacing and intoxicating”, others challenge Levinson over the exploitative narrative that, in the first hour, encompasses the statutory rape of a trans teen, Jules (Schafer), on an online hook-up, and the choking during sex of her classmate Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) by a new boyfriend McKay (Algee Smith), who has seen her on a sex tape and assumes that’s what she likes.

If Euphoria was about, say, university students rather than minors, would it be causing such a furore? “I think the important thing to acknowledge is the show is about teenagers and not necessary for teenagers, which I think people can misinterpret,” says Zendaya, who also felt compelled to post a warning on her Instagram for her 59.6 million followers that the show is only suited to “mature audiences”.

“It’s very important to us that the only teenagers watching it are 18 and older, with parental guidance if you’re any younger than that,” she says, “That’s important to all of us, because this show is hard to watch sometimes.”

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As someone whose own adolescence was recent, was Zendaya shocked by the content? “Not really,” she says, in a sentiment echoed by the rest of the cast. “I think it’s only shocking if it’s not your experience. Just because it didn’t happen to you doesn’t mean it’s not happening every day, all the time, it’s just certain people will be able to understand it a little bit more than others. Someone’s going to connect to it and whoever needs to see it, will see it.”

Post Game of Thrones – which peaked in shock value at the Red Wedding and subsequently spent each season trying to top it – the pressure is on producers to find new ways to shock. In a world where The Handmaid’s Tale doesn’t feel that far removed from reality, it’s harder than ever; as viewers, we are becoming immune. Perhaps that’s why the authenticity and relatability of Euphoria are so jarring. The topics tackled feel like some of the last taboos.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Masquerading... Barbie Ferreira as Kat. Photograph: HBO

Hunter Schafer, who plays new kid in town Jules, has a string of disturbing scenes. As a first-time actor, she was pushed to the limit filming a party scene where, verbally attacked by Nate (Jacob Elordi), she slices her arm with a kitchen knife.

“I got worked up about having to be so raw; it was a struggle to get to a place where I felt OK about being that emotional in front of 200 extras,” she admits.

“I regret the way I prepared: I locked myself in my hotel room and listened to depressing music all day. It was a night shoot, so by the evening I was exhausted. Something Sam helped with is [encouraging us] to keep a blank emotional slate until it’s time to dive in.”

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Trapped in a toxic pattern of sleeping with married cisgender men, playful, pink-haired Jules is the most interesting character in the show – and the fact that it’s only mentioned in passing that she is trans (and not until episode three) is a step forward for the representation of transgender characters in TV and film.

Like Jules, the character of Kat (played by body-positive model Barbie Ferreira) could have veered into cliche as the insecure “fat friend”. Kat loses her virginity in episode one. The video of said incident is filmed and shared across the school, before being uploaded on to a porn site. It’s a plot that sees her capitalising on her online audience and infiltrating the world of camming – avoiding the usual despair-laden plotlines and evolving into something far more complex. When it comes to stories such as this, Levinson is not always comfortable putting words into the actors’ mouths, favouring instead a more collaborative approach.

“I’d be having a conversation with Barbie and she’d tell me something and then … there it is in the script. And she’s like: ‘I see what you did there,’” he says. “I love the experience of working with a cast, and a cast this unique. It’s so much fun to kind of grow with them as a writer and film-maker and just continue to volley ideas back and forth.”

Maybe the kids are alright, after all.

Euphoria starts Tuesday 6 August, 10pm, Sky Atlantic