Sam Levinson has revealed that telling Zendaya about Rue’s death was one of the most emotionally charged conversations ever. Euphoria production, and that the weight of it remained with both of them throughout filming.
talking to VarietyThe show’s creator described telling his lead actress that her character would not survive the final season.
“When I presented this season and the finale to him, it was a very emotional reaction,” Levinson said.
“We love the character of Rue. She’s done an incredible job of bringing this character to life… in the hands of a lesser actor, the character wouldn’t be as charming and lovable and funny. So it was a difficult discussion. Even during filming, it weighed on both of us.”
The decision to kill Rue was deeply personal for Levinson, who has spoken openly about his own history with drug addiction.
The third season arc was largely marked by the death of Angus Cloud, who played Fezco in the first two seasons and died of a drug overdose at the age of 25.
In the series finale, Rue takes painkillers from her boss Alamo, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, which turn out to be laced with fentanyl.
After a dream sequence in which he returns home to his mother, it is revealed that he died in his sleep on the couch of his mentor Ali, played by Colman Domingo.
“At the end of the day, she understood what she was doing and I felt like it was the right way to honor Angus, someone who we loved very much and who we really supported and saw the best in him,” Levinson said.
Domingo’s presence on set during those final scenes provided critical strength for everyone involved.
“We also had Colman Domingo there, who has been one of my closest collaborators for over a decade and also a pivotal force in Zendaya’s life,” Levinson said.
“That kind of camaraderie really helped make this sequence feel authentic and meaningful. We’ve been doing this for eight or nine years together, so it was a beautiful couple of days while we were filming those scenes, because we knew how the audience would respond.”
Levinson also shared a behind-the-scenes detail about the season’s memorable opening sequence, in which Rue attempts to drive her beat-up Jeep through the border fence between the United States and Mexico.
The original concept was quite different.
“Originally, I was supposed to swim across the Rio Grande,” he said.
The change came during a scan at the DEA offices in Los Angeles, where Levinson saw a photograph on the wall of a Jeep lodged atop a border wall.
When he asked what had happened, a DEA agent explained that someone had simply tried to cross the border with a car.
“I thought, ‘That’s the kind of stupid thing Rue would do,'” Levinson said. “And so we ended up recreating it.”
