This article contains spoilers for Euphoria’s final episode.
Euphoria actor Darrell Britt-Gibson has discussed his character Bishop’s shocking betrayal in the finale of the show, as well as the motivations behind it.
In the last episode of the HBO drama, titled In God We Trust, Rue (Zendaya), is killed by her employer, drug dealer Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who forces her to overdose by giving her pain killers laced with fentanyl. Her body is discovered by Ali (Colman Domingo), her sobriety sponsor, who decides to kill Alamo in an act of vengeance.
Facing off at the dealer’s strip club, the pair have a Western-style duel, which Alamo breaks the rules of by shooting early. However, his gun has no bullets, and Ali shoots him dead. It emerges that Bishop, Alamo’s trusted enforcer, took the bullets from his gun prior to the duel.
Speaking to Variety, Britt-Gibson discussed why Bishop chose that moment to betray his boss. “Bishop didn’t agree with a lot of what Alamo did, but it was a job for him,” he said. “I think what Alamo did to Rue was the final straw for Bishop.”
His character was quite harsh toward Rue in the show, making his vengeance surprising. However, the actor said it’s a matter of perspective. “There are a million different ways to look at it, from a character standpoint,” he said. “It plays like he doesn’t care, but if you look deep enough, there are moments of Bishop being like a big brother who is hard on her….The way Sam wrote it is up to interpretation. He gives it space for it to be seen however people want to see it.”
As for how long the betrayal had been planned, Britt-Gibson said: “He’s been waiting. He’s so calculated. It’s chess. It’s always chess for Bishop.” He added that his relationship with Maddy (Alexa Demie) may have been a motivator. “Rue [dying] was a bridge too far, and he’s like, ‘I promise I’m not going to let [Alamo] get to Maddy.’”
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, creator Sam 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.