WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
Sam Levinson is looking back at the “tough” conversation he had with Zendaya when he pitched her the ending to her Euphoria character Rue’s story.
In the season three finale of the hit HBO series, which also served as the series finale, Rue dies from an accidental overdose when she took fentanyl-laced pills given to her by crime lord Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).
During his appearance on the Wednesday (June 10) episode of Variety‘s “Half Hour With” series, Sam revealed that the 29-year-old two-time Emmy winner had a “very emotional reaction” to learning about Rue’s death.
“We love the character Rue,” Sam said as he praised Zendaya for doing “such an incredible job bringing this character to life.”
He went on to call Zendaya a “gifted actor” and said “wouldn’t be as charming and lovable and humorous” if she was played by someone else.
“So it was a tough discussion,” Sam recalled. “Even through shooting, it sort of weighed on both of us. At the end of the day, she understood what I was doing.”
Sam went on to confirm that the manner of Rue’s death was to honor late Euphoria star Angus Cloud, who died from an accidental fentanyl overdose in July 2023 at the age of 25. The showrunner said that Angus “was someone whom we loved dearly and really rooted for and saw the best in.”
Sam also praised Colman Domingo‘s performance as Rue’s mentor, Ali Muhammad, who finds her dead body.
“When when it came time to shoot the scene, we also had Colman Domingo there, who’s been one of my closest collaborators for over a decade and a grounding force in Zendaya’s life as well,” Sam explained. “That kind of camaraderie really helped this sequence feel authentic and meaningful.”
“We’ve been doing this for eight, nine years together, so it was a beautiful couple of days as we were shooting those scenes, because I think we knew how audiences would respond to it.,” he explained.
In another recent interview, Sam defended his decision to kill off Rue.
Posted To:Euphoria Sam Levinson Television Zendaya
