Zendaya’s Ending Was Nearly Very Different in ‘Euphoria’

Euphoria concluded last Sunday with a tragic ending for Zendaya’s Rue. Her character had suffered from addiction over the three seasons of the HBO show, but had cleaned up in the recent series.

In the last ever episode of the series, Rue dies from an overdose of pain medication laced with fentanyl. In her final moments, Rue hallucinates Fezco, and reuniting with her parents.

This was not the showrunner Sam Levinson’s originally intended ending to the show, but one he felt necessary considering the current problems in America.

In a new interview with the New York Times, the show’s creator revealed that it wasn’t the initial plan for the character, but the death of actor Angus Cloud made him want to change things.

“There was a different trajectory for the character of Rue,” Sam added. “And, this is during the writers’ strike [in 2023] and we got the news that Angus [Cloud] passed away,” he said. Angus, who played Fezco O’Neil in the show, passed away in July 2023 from an overdose.

Sam admitted he had always been concerned with the prevalence of fentanyl. “It’s something that we’ve dealt with over the seasons and even in my first film [Another Happy Day],” he explained.

This moved to the forefront his mind when they lost one of thei own.

Angus’ untimely death made Sam want to rewrite the third season of Euphoria because “you can’t tell a story about addiction today without the very real consequences.”

Sam has not revealed where he originally wanted to take the third series of the hit show, which also stars Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi and Alexa Demie.

“I think in the end, I wanted to tell an honest story about addiction,” Sam explained in a separate interview in an HBO behind-the-scenes video about the finale. He added, “People relapse. They f— up. They’re not ready to get clean. And they weren’t dying like they are now, with the influx of fentanyl into this country.”

Refinery 29 praised the series finale for boldly killing off the lead character and for giving people ” the grace to those who suffer from addiction and played out the very real desire to seek vengeance when your loved ones are suddenly taken from you.”

Sam Levinson knows his series would not have been so beloved if it weren’t for the star-making and Emmy-winning performance from Zendaya. He thanked her for what she brought to his character.

“Zendaya’s performance has been so wonderful and layered over the course of these seasons,” he said per E! Online. “We fell in love with this character, this girl who’s flawed, f–ked up, and has a good heart and is trying to do right, at least sometimes.”