***Major spoilers ahead for the final episode of Euphoria***
HBO’s Euphoria is officially ending with its third season, which wrapped its run on Sunday (May 31) with an explosive finale.
Creator Sam Levinson confirmed the show’s end in an interview with The New York Times’ Popcast last night, which was shared hours after the season three finale aired. “In terms of the story we set out to tell, which is a story about addiction and its consequences, this feels like the end to me,” he said.
The show ended with the death of its main character, Zendaya’s Rue Bennett, who in last night’s episode, overdosed on painkillers laced with fentanyl. In a drug-induced haze, she imagined reuniting with her sister and friends, as well as Fezco, played by the late Angus Cloud.
“It just felt like the honest ending,” Levinson said in a post-episode look that played after the episode. “The honest ending is people like Rue don’t make it.”
“People relapse. They fuck 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,” he added.
In September 2023, Cloud tragically passed away from an accidental drug overdose at the age of 25, and his co-stars Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Javon Walton and Colman Domingo all sharing an emotional tribute to their friend and colleague.
The opening episode of season three also concluded with an In Memoriam screen honouring Cloud, as well as Eric Dane and executive producer Kevin Turen, who both also died since the show was on the air.
“I can say with absolute certainly that if I was going through what I went through when I was younger now, I wouldn’t be here either. There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. I wanted to tell this story for Angus and for people who weren’t granted a second chance.”
The news won’t come as a surprise for viewers, given Zendaya had previously said in interviews that she believed the third instalment would mark the end of the series, but rumours of another season arose after HBO referenced Sunday’s release as a season, rather than a series, finale.
The penultimate episode killed off Jacob Elordi’s Nate Jacobs — leaving only Sweeney’s Cassie, Hunter Schafer’s Jules, Alexa Demie’s Maddy and Maude Apatow’s Lexi left to potentially continue the story out of the series’ original characters.
However, many fans had previously speculated that the actors’ success outside of the franchise would make it difficult for them all to return for a fourth season.
The last has proved one of the most divisive in the show’s history. While the first season was widely praised for its subversive take on the conventional high-school drama, the latest season – which features a five-year time jump from the last – has proved controversial because of its sudden emphasis on sex work, with central storylines revolving around strip clubs, sugar babies, and OnlyFans.
One much criticised storyline saw Sweeney’s Cassie dressed up as a baby and a dog for her online content, triggering a wave of backlash from OnlyFans creators.