[This story contains MAJOR spoilers from the season three finale of Euphoria, “In God We Trust.”]
Sam Levinson is standing by his decision to have Rue (Zendaya) die in Sunday night’s Euphoria season three finale.
In the post-show segment on HBO, Levinson, the show’s creator, says it felt like the right way for her character to conclude. “It felt like an honest ending,” Levinson said. “The honest ending is people like Rue don’t make it.”
“I think in the end, I wanted to tell an honest story about addiction,” he continued. “I also wanted to tell a story about grief and the emotional turmoil that it can create.”
The finale shows Rue dying due to an accidental overdose from taking Alamo’s Percocet pills that were laced with fentanyl. During a dream sequence while she’s overdosing, she has an emotional moment with Fezco that features unseen footage with Angus Cloud, who died in 2023 at age 25 from an accidental overdose. Rue’s death was especially painful due to her character’s struggles with addiction throughout the series. (Read The Hollywood Reporter’s finale recap here.)
“I wanted to tell the story for Angus and for people who weren’t granted a second chance,” Levinson said, as he got emotional while reflecting on his own past struggles with substances.
Additionally, Hunter Schafer, who played Rue’s on-again, off-again love interest Jules, called Zendaya her “soul mate” and said that she was so lucky to have her as her first scene partner in the series.
Shortly after the finale was released, Levinson announced and HBO confirmed Euphoria won’t return for season four and that season three is the end.
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Euphoria season three is streaming on HBO Max. Check out all of The Hollywood Reporter’s coverage here.
