Euphoria creator Sam Levinson has revealed that Sydney Sweeney asked him to keep her character’s nudity in the final season of the show.
The actor’s character, Cassie, becomes an OnlyFans creator in the third season of the HBO Max and Sky drama, with the fifth episode in particular showing a montage of her sex work as her content becomes more popular, descending into a sexualised fantasy where she becomes a giant.
Speaking to The New York Times, Levinson discussed how he was initially reluctant to show any nudity, until Sweeney intervened.
“Well, it’s funny, when I first wrote it, I was like, ‘maybe we shoot all of this and we don’t have any nudity, maybe there’s ways to shoot around certain things?’” he said. “And she looked at me and she was like, ‘Are you kidding? I’m playing an OnlyFans model. You’re telling me you’re going to like, skirt around it?’ And I was like, yeah, OK, that’s a fair point.”
Paying tribute to the star, he said: “I think she’s a totally fearless actor. She’s also just wonderfully professional and shows up just game every day. I adore working with her because there’s such a flexibility in terms of the performance. There’s a lot of trust that we have.”
“And look, we’re tackling this world of OnlyFans where women are being paid to, like, whisper into an ear-shaped microphone. There is a level of absurdity to it that is just fun and we’re always trying to come up with ways to make it feel authentic and humorous and dramatic and also speak to the larger wants and wishes of the character.”
The ending of Euphoria, which aired on May 31, was met with criticism from fans, who took to social media to call the episode “a mess”, “anticlimactic”, and even “the worst ending to any TV show ever”.
By contrast, Levinson described it as “the honest ending”, before announcing that the third season was the finale and that there would be no fourth. Elsewhere, cast member Chloe Cherry explained why some actors don’t like working with Levinson.
Recently, cast member Darrell Britt-Gibson explained his character Bishop’s betrayal in the final episode, and what the “final straw” was for him and Alamo.