It’s an emotional day for fans of “Euphoria.”
The HBO series ended its three-season run on May 31 with a series finale that killed off a major character and left viewers reaching for the tissue box.
Who died and how did the show’s creator explain the tragic ending?
Who Died In the ‘Euphoria’ Series Finale?
Rue Bennett, played by Zendaya, died of a fatal overdose in the “Euphoria” series finale.
Over the last few seasons, viewers have seen the character navigate an addiction to drugs. In the finale, crime lord Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) learns Rue, one of his subordinates, has been working as informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration to take down both Alamo and rival drug kingpin Laurie (Martha Kelly).
After Rue is injured while robbing Laurie, Alamo gives her a Percocet, which she takes. He also gives her a bag of cash and a bottle of more pills.
She gets her hand stitched up at a hospital before going to the house of her mentor Ali (Colman Domingo). She listens to an audio recording of the book of Genesis and holds the pill bottle.
She’s seen the next morning watching the news, which appears to show her friend Fezco (played by late actor Angus Cloud) breaking out of prison.
She races to meet up with him, during which she sees flashes of her younger self, Jules (Hunter Schafer) and Fez. She finally returns to her childhood home, reunites with her mother, Leslie (Nika King), and hugs her father.
But it was all a dream sequence, and Rue had actually died on Ali’s couch. He finds her the next morning and cries over her body. He takes the pills found beside her body, and they come up positive for fentanyl.
The rest of the finale sees Ali get revenge, and he eventually shoots Alamo dead in his own strip club.
What Has the Show’s Creator Said About the Ending?
During an interview with The New York Times pop culture show “Popcast,” “Euphoria” writer, director and creator Sam Levinson explained his motivations for ending the series on a somber note.
“In terms of the story that we set out to tell, which is a story about addiction and its consequences, this feels like the end to me,” he said.
Levinson acknowledged that the show’s ending was “tragic,” but said “it’s also the truth.”
“If you are experimenting or taking drugs today, it’s very possible it’ll kill you,” he said.
Levinson described the series finale as a tribute to Cloud, who died of an accidental overdose in 2023, and said he’d originally written a “different trajectory” for Rue’s character.
“But once he passed away, I had to reconceive the script and I thought, you can’t tell a story about addiction today without the very real consequences,” he said. “Most people don’t get a second chance. Fentanyl can just take you out in an instant.”
Levinson, a former addict, said showing a realistic portrayal of addiction “felt like the responsible thing to do.”
In Season 3, Rue’s addiction played a less prominent role in the series than it had in the first two seasons. Levinson noted that this was intentional.
“You can go through different phases of addiction where you’re using every single second of a day to feeling like you kind of have your life together. Maybe you smoke a little weed, you drink, but it’s not the most pressing issue. But that addictive personality is always underneath the surface,” he said.
A post-show segment on HBO showed Levinson describing the series finale as “an honest ending.”
“I think in the end, I wanted to tell an honest story about addiction. I also wanted to tell a story about grief and the emotional turmoil that it can create,” he said.
“The honest ending is people like Rue don’t make it,” he added.
Levinson elaborated on the inspiration he drew from Cloud’s experiences with addiction.
“I wanted to tell the story for Angus and for people who weren’t granted a second chance,” he said.
