WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
Sam Levinson looking back at the “tough” conversation he had with Zendaya when he gave her the ending to her Euphoria character Rue’s story.
In the season three finale of the popular HBO series, which also served as series finaleRue dies of an accidental overdose when she took fentanyl-laced pills given to her by crime lord Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).
During his appearance on Wednesday’s (June 10) episode of Black‘s “Half Hour With” series, Sam revealed that the 29-year-old two-time Emmy winner had a “very emotional reaction” to learning of Rue’s death.
“We love the character Rue,” Sam said while praising Zendaya for doing “such an incredible job bringing this character to life.”
He continued to call Zendaya a “gifted actress” and said “wouldn’t be as charming and lovable and humorous” if she were played by someone else.
“So it was a tough discussion” Sam recalled. “Even through shooting, it 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 Cloudwho died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in July 2023 at the age of 25. The showrunner said that Angus “was one whom we dearly and truly loved and saw the best in.”
Sam also praised Colman Domingo‘s performance as Rue’s mentor, Ali Muhammad, who finds her dead body.
“When it came time to shoot the scene, we had too Colman Domingo there, who has been one of my closest collaborators for more than a decade and a founding force in Zendayalife too,” 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 when we shot those scenes because I think we knew how the audience would react to it.” he explained.
In another recent interview, Sam defended his decision to kill Rue.
Sent to:Euphoria Sam Levinson Television Zendaya
