Though it only aired three seasons, Euphoria ranks as one of HBO’s most-watched series — and also its most debated. Case in point: The series finale, which brought in nearly 9 million viewers in just three days — also sparked an online uproar over the fate of one of its main characters, Rue, played by Zendaya, who suffered a fatal overdose of fentanyl after battling addiction over the course of the series.
But for the show’s creator, writer, and director Sam Levinson, it was the inevitable conclusion to the tragic story he wanted to tell about addiction. “It’s not what I wanted for Rue, but it was the honest outcome,” Levinson tells Gold Derby. “I think if it makes anyone think twice about taking a pill, then I’ve done my job.”
Levinson says that wasn’t always the fate he had in mind for Rue, but the death of series star Angus Cloud in 2023 of a fentanyl overdose sent him spiraling, and forever changed the paths of not just Rue, but the rest of the characters we’d been following since the series debuted in 2019. Euphoria earned nine nominations in its first season and 16 in its second, including wins for lead actress Zendaya and guest actor Colman Domingo.
Here, Levinson opens up to Gold Derby about why that was the story he had to tell, even if it was painful for both him and Zendaya, why Ali (Colman Domingo) became his avenging angel, and whether he’s open to a sequel.
Gold Derby: How are you feeling about the reaction to the finale? Are you paying attention to it?
Sam Levinson: I always like going online and seeing all of the chaos and the response. I think it’s exactly what I wanted to do with this story, in the sense that it’s the truth of what happens if you’re doing drugs in this day and age, in the time of fentanyl. It’s not what I wanted for Rue, but it was the honest outcome, and I think if it makes anyone think twice about taking a pill, then I’ve done my job.
Was that always what her path was going to be from the beginning?
Not necessarily in the sense that I don’t write with five seasons in mind. I write with the season I have in front of me, and I write it as if it could be the end.
When did you decide that she was going to die?
I had written a version of the scripts before the writers’ strike, and then when Angus passed away in 2023, I realized that we had to tell a different story. And so after the strike ended, I went back in, and I knew where this was headed.
Can you understand why fans are upset that she died?
100%. But I also don’t make the show for the fans, in the sense that you know I’m going to give them what they want and expect. I make the show for an audience, and an audience who’s willing to sit with uncomfortable truths, painful ones even.
There’s also a feeling of disappointment that she didn’t even get a funeral or memorial of any kind.
Look, I think that the wish that Rue was able to tie up all of the loose ends in her life and have an emotional catharsis with each character in her life before death is not the reality of addiction or overdoses. Things are unfinished, things are left unsaid. There’s an enormous amount of regret, and even the idea of a funeral feels cheap and sentimental to me in the sense that, OK they go to the funeral, we see everyone cry or not cry, someone reads a speech, then what? It’s not really what I’m interested in exploring. I think Ali’s reaction to it, with the knowledge of how much emotion he had wrapped up in her how much he truly loved her and was rooting for her is what it’s about. It’s about how does pain transform inside of someone else, and especially when you’re living in a time where 75,000 people a year are dying of fentanyl overdoses, when do you hit a wall and say you know what, maybe the path of therapy and talking everything out isn’t as useful. Maybe I need to actually just go and kill these people who are poisoning kids. I think it’s an interesting aspect of human nature to explore, and it fits in with the Western mythos that we’ve been playing with all season.
What is it about Westerns that’s so appealing to you, that made you want to structure this season around that theme?
I think that they’re stories about America, they’re told tales about who we are as a people, and they distill these larger themes of redemption, moral wilderness, lawlessness into very simple tales. I liked how that fit our universe, in the sense that we are entering a new frontier in terms of business, economics, job opportunities, the amount of societal decay, fentanyl deaths. It feels a bit like a lawless time, and there are all of these new kind of unregulated businesses that are popping up from OnlyFans to TikTok influencers. It just felt like this is our frontier, and this is where we’re headed, and we’ve yet to figure out how to organize it in terms of society and its effects. So I was excited to approach the modern world through a through an older lens.
Was Ali always going to be Rue’s avenging angel?
Once I knew Rue was going to pass away, yes.
What was it about Colman that gave you the confidence that he could deliver that?
I’ve been working with Colman for 10 years. I am constantly amazed by his depth, gravitas, lightness, and just commitment to the character, I had no fears that he was able to pull this off, because he has such a deep humanity in him as a human being, and also as an actor, that the heartbreak of losing Rue, I knew would translate, and the pain would translate, and as long as that scene in NA, where he arrives at this logical conclusion that he needs to be of better service, as long as that those sort of beats hit, and we could follow it, then we would be with him. It was interesting, we showed the finale in Brooklyn with about 600 people, and when Rue dies, you could hear people crying, you could hear a pin drop, and then by the time that Ali’s in that club with the shotgun and he’s blown away Alamo Brown, the whole audience just erupted in cheers. It was a really fascinating experience, and I think because he’s also doing something that’s very morally gray, but I think it’s a testament to his performance, and the love people have for Rue.
And then you bring him to this religious epiphany at the end. Why was that the note that you wanted to end on?
It felt right in the sense that he returns to this homestead that Rue had been talking about, after committing the sin of murdering a few people, he prays for the world, for his country, and he has this vision of Rue. It just felt like a grace note that he would be afforded this blessing of seeing her happy and at peace, which is what he wishes for her, when he holds her head on the couch. He took it from being a nihilistic story into one that’s about redemption and renewal. I think it’s easy to write off the show as nihilistic or pessimistic, but I am more interested in the way forward and the path forward from there, and it just always moved me, this thought of him there, and seeing her finally at peace.
Why was he the character that you decided to end with?
Because he was the adult that really listened and cared and saw the best in Rue.
Which character’s ending was the hardest for you to write?
That’s an interesting question. Maybe Maddie’s, in the sense that there’s quite a few plot mechanics that need to click into place in order for her to walk away free. Alamo’s was tough, because I had a couple of different versions of his confrontation with Ali, and at the same time, I wanted him to come to this revelation of that he’s a victim to his own desires as well, but because he’s such a menacing character, I needed to find an organic way into it. I think his love for Maddie, and I use that word lightly, was the entry point to it, this dream of wanting a future and a legacy. He’s such an inspiring actor and he’s so thoughtful and meticulous that we could sit and go through the ideas of who this guy is and what it is he wants and desires and also give him something that felt cinematic and entertaining at the same time.
You’ve lived with these characters for so long, especially given the length of production. How much of them have you modified as you’ve gotten to know the actors and their performances?
I think I do that anytime I cast an actor. I always have the character that’s on the page when I cast an actor, I sit down, I talk to them, we talk to the character, discuss ideas, throw things back and forth, and then I always do a pass based on who that person is and what they’re bringing to it, because I think the more ownership they have over the character, the stronger their performance is, and the more they feel they have at stake. And then, throughout shooting, I get inspired by things I see.
Did you see the future star in Zendaya when you first started working with her?
I like to think so. Hanging a show on a lead actor, you’ve got to have faith that they have the goods and they can deliver, so I’ve always believed she would be magnificent and a massive, massive force in terms of acting.
How were your conversations with her about Rue’s ultimate fate? Was she on board with it all the way through?
I think it’s tough because I put so much love into this character, and it’s not what either of us want for the character, but it’s what’s truthful to the character. So it was an emotionally difficult experience, but it was the right decision.
How much of you found its way into the series?
I try to always draw on myself if I can, and place it into these characters that are maybe very different from who I am, just in the sense that it’s cathartic and allows me to get certain things off my chest, but also I think it roots it in a certain authenticity and truthfulness that I think comes across in the performances and on screen, so I would say that I’m in almost every one of these characters in some way shape or form. I also studied method acting for years before I started writing and directing, and I build very elaborate back stories for every single one of these characters. So I show up on set with a deep knowledge of who they are, where they’ve been, what they want, what they desire, what they’re hiding, and I try to find the emotional parallels in my own life, just so I can be attached, and really care about these characters.
Is there one character you identify with more than any other?
I would say Rue because, because of her history with addiction. I think I’ve put an enormous amount oof work into that character, making sure she feels true to what it’s like to be an addict.
Is there any version of revisiting this world in a few years? Is there a character that you would come back to down the road?
I love all these characters, and I can imagine a myriad of different story lines for them, but I think I’m really proud of what we achieve as an entire crew, from our, costume designer to cinematographer to production designer, hair stylist, makeup. I think we’ve all done top-notch work across the board, and I’m really proud of where it ended.
Sharon Stone recently said she thought Euphoria should be taught in high schools. Do you agree?
I try to stay away from public policy. It’s not my expertise, but I appreciate Sharon’s perspective. She was just a dream to work with. She’s so talented and engaged and charismatic. I just had a blast working with her, and it was really fun to see her comedic side, and to be able to work those scenes with her.
Opinions do change over time. Do you think with more distance, people will come to terms with the finale?
I think people will. I think it’ll set in the way that it’s meant to. I don’t think too much about the legacy, or what will be in the future. I think it’s a disturbing and shocking conclusion to a character that we all love, and so I think the response makes perfect sense to me, but again go back to this idea that I don’t make this show for the fans, and I have to deliver something that’s honest to an audience, and I know that there are certain people that are upset, but I would be betraying my own artistic ambitions if I were to tell this story in any other way.
