Who Played Young Cal and Derek in 'Euphoria' Season 2, Episode 3?

One of Euphoria's biggest villains finally got his backstory. Cal Jacobs (played by Eric Dane) has wreaked havoc on the life of his son Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) as an overbearing father with high expectations and little tolerance for failure. He has a secret life, cheating on his wife with young men and transwomen in motel rooms, including Nate's classmate/love interest Jules (Hunter Schafer) when she was underage.

In Season 2 alone, he has got himself caught in the drama between his son and local drug dealer Fez (Angus Cloud), under the false impression Fez has the missing tape of him and Jules having sex, something he recorded without Jules consent.

Now, audiences have finally learned a little bit more about Cal's life as a teenager in the opening segment of Euphoria Season 2, Episode 3. It turns out, Cal was in love with his best friend Derek in the 1980s and spent the majority of his adolescence suppressing his feelings, until they finally kissed on the night of their graduation. Sound a little familiar? Flash forward to present-day Nate and Jules. Like Father, Like Son.

Unfortunately, teenage Cal opted to suppress his true feelings just 24 hours after he embraced them when his girlfriend Marsha (now his wife), called to say she was pregnant, and the rest is history.

Who Played Young Cal and Derek in Euphoria Season 2, Episode 3?

Young Cal Jacobs

Young Cal was portrayed by up-and-coming actor Elias Kacavas.

Kacavas studied at NYU's Tisch School of Arts for Drama, studying method acting for two years before landing the role of young Cal Jacobs in Euphoria, according to his IMDb profile.

The good news is, Kacavas will not be leaving our screens anytime soon. He will play the role of Greg on HBO Max's upcoming series, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, starring alongside Carson Rowland, Jordan Gonzalez, Ben Cook, and Benton Greene.

Eric Dane who plays colder Cal in Euphoria spoke to Entertainment Weekly about Cal's backstory, where he shared he was "very happy" with Cal's past but described Cal as "horribly complicated, terrifically conflicted, and confused" as an adult as a result.

Dane also shared his love for Kacavas's performance calling him "fantastic".
He shared: "I did want to get into Cal's backstory. I knew that was eventually gonna come. I'm happy it came this season. I've been very happy with the material that I've been given and I love this character."

He said: "If we start off with Cal being a bad guy from the jump, there's really nowhere to go. Everybody starts out sweet at some point in their life, right? But I thought that the way they handled it was pretty deft. I love the actor that played young Cal. He was just fantastic.

"And you knew there had to be some sort of cause or condition that was placed on Cal for him to turn out the way he turned out, which is this horribly complicated, terrifically conflicted, and confused person who's trying to figure out his journey, at however old he is and starts living his truth. He's been living a lie his entire life. The only thing you can say really bad about [young] Cal is his timing was a little bad.

"In some ways, you can say, "Well, he did the right thing," but he completely sold himself to do it. And you can look at the father and how rigid and unloving the father was. You can look at his instincts or feelings he had for friend Derek, but the circumstances of his girlfriend getting pregnant totally derailed what his being wanted to do."

Young Derek

Derek, Cal's best friend, and love interest is played by fellow rising actor, Henry Eikenberry.

According to his IMDb profile, Euphoria is Eikenberry's biggest acting role to date.

Dane shared his theories with Entertainment Weekly on the state of Derek and Cal's friendship in the present day, believing they both, unfortunately, went their separate ways after high school.

He shared: "I think once Cal settled in with Marsha in those circumstances, he completely blocked out everything from that part of his life. He completely ignored it and did so for years, and what happens is that if you don't listen to your body, eventually it's gonna have its way with you."

Unfortunately, very little is known about the rising stars, but one thing is for sure, Euphoria fans have fallen in love with them both, leaving them very conflicted about their views on adult Cal Jacobs.

One fan tweeted: "Not young Cal dancing and then kissing with Derek to "Never Tear Us Apart" being the cutest and saddest thing ever #EuphoriaHBOMax."

A second fan chimed in: "I hate Cal Jacobs but when young Cal and Derek kissed, I cried."

A third fan added: "I kinda love young Cal and Derek #Euphoria. I need their love story."

Euphoria Season 2 continues Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.