Talk about a red wedding. Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi — aka Cassie and Nate — officially tied the knot on the third episode of Euphoria‘s third season, “The Battle of the Paladin.” But trouble turned out to be afoot for the couple courtesy of a wedding crasher who showed up not with a present, but rather a demand: $500,000 in literal blood money.
That crasher was Naz, played by Jack Topalian, the morally dubious businessman that Nate is deeply indebted to as he pursues a real estate venture that the former big man on campus hopes will be his ticket to the big time. Instead, it’s his ticket to a wedding night where pain is on the menu.
Naz first shows up at mid-ceremony where he makes it clear that he intends to collect what he’s owed that very evening — especially now that he’s seen how much Nate is spending on food, flowers booze for the wedding guests. “Don’t you think it’s a little foolish to throw such a lavish party when you also owe people money,” Naz says, not listening to any of Nate’s lame promises that the money is on its way.
“You always promise, but you never say when,” the debt collector notes. “‘When’ do you promise? Because promise without when is a useless exchange of words.”
Nate and Cassie in happier times on ‘Euphoria’
“I used to be your husband’s friend,” Naz adds to Cassie as he prepares to take his leave. “Now I’m going to become his worst f–king nightmare. Enjoy this moment.”
And Cassie and Nate do try to enjoy the happy moments left to them, including a spirited turn around the dance floor. When they return home after their chaotic nuptials, though, they find Naz and one of his enforcers waiting for them. And this time, there are no more warnings. Instead, Naz’s “associate” goes right for the jugular, mercilessly beating Nate — and even his bride — over their protestations.
Then Naz provides the coup de grâce, snipping off Nate’s pinky toe with a pair of mean-looking shears. “I just need a couple of days,” Nate begs before the deed is done. “You mean like the honeymoon period, yes?” Naz replies. “Unfortunately, your honeymoon’s over.”
And with that, Nine-Toed Nate becomes the newest addition to the Euphoria universe. His new bride may not be safe either. On his way out the door, Naz pointedly tells Cassie: “Some women inherit wealth, but others inherit debt.” In other words — start looking in the cushions for spare change.
Beyond delivering a short, sharp shock, that final sequence also speaks to a theme that Euphoria creator, Sam Levinson, wanted to explore in the show’s final eight episodes, all of which he wrote and directed. “This season is about action having consequences and you can only outrun your mistakes for so long,” he remarked in a post-episode behind the scenes featurette, noting that Nate and Cassie’s encounter with Naz will have major implications for how the rest of Season 3 unfolds. “Cassie realizes the life she’s been living has been a bit of a fantasy — it wasn’t real. We [also] understand the weight and gravity of Nate’s situation.”
“Cassie starts to learn and realize that Nate has been lying to her the entire time,” Sweeney added. “Everything’s crumbling around her.”
Naturally, no actual toes were harmed during the making of that scene. Instead, the wizards at Vincent Van Dyke Effects — whose long list of credits include David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy and Walton Goggins’ Ghoul in Fallout — were enlisted to create a prosthetic version of Elordi’s leg and foot that could spurt fake blood when sliced.
Sweeney, meanwhile, revealed that Cassie initially tried to save her husband from his beating. “Originally, in the script, Cassie would follow and try to attack the guy,” the actress said. But that blocking changed when Levinson and his director of photography, Marcell Rév, came up with a different plan when Sweeney’s crying fits inspired their own tears… of laughter.
“Once she starts crying, we thought, ‘This is funnier than the action aspect of the scene,'” Rév noted. “Sam said ‘Why don’t we just shoot her just sitting there and this whole thing starts to take place behind her?'” That’s how we ended up with such memorable moments as Cassie wailing, “This is so unfair,” as Nate gets his head beaten in behind her.
“Syd is absolutely brilliant in that scene,” raved Levinson. “I’m crying with laughter every time I watch her.”
Speaking with the New York Post, Topalian shared a few more details about how the sequence unfolded behind the scenes. “There’s a lot of physicality involved [and] Jacob did a lot of his own stunts,” the actor said. “That’s [him] really doing the struggling and the fighting and the falling and all of that.” Topalian also remembered Elordi being in good spirits between blows. “Once [the director calls ‘cut’] even though he’s been beaten and abused, he’s still having a lot of fun. He’s still cracking jokes and doing things like that.”
Not for nothing, but Elordi specifically wanted Nate to be having fun at his wedding, too — at least before he’s left bloody and beaten. “The one thing I kept thinking about is, ‘He should smile, even if he doesn’t feel like it,'” the Oscar-nominated actor said in the HBO featurette. “I remember in the first two seasons thinking to myself, ‘He cannot smile — he does not smile.’ And this season, his smile says so much about him.”
Toes come and go, but smiles are forever.
