Euphoria: A Look Back (2026) Movie Script
[cameras clicking]
[Maude Apatow]
I don't think any of us knew...
-I'm Jacob Elordi.
-Angus Cloud.
-Storm Reid.
-...the impact that
Euphoria would have.
I'm 12 years old
and I am Ashtray.
I had no idea.
Like, at all. [chuckles]
It's kinda crazy.
I look back on it.
We were, like, literal babies.
-Wait, are you actually scared?
-Yes, bitch!
[Jacob Elordi]
When you make a piece of art,
you don't know
what's gonna happen.
Hyah!
[Eric Deggans]
Sam is an expert
provocateur as a filmmaker.
[Sam Levinson]
You wanted to engage
the audience.
Everyone's gonna have
a different opinion.
-[screaming]
-Love yourself!
And that's the beauty
of it all.
[Alexa Demie]
It's like such a lucky feeling
to create something
that is this massive.
-[claps]
-I'm a huge fan of Euphoria
since the beginning.
How are you feeling tonight,
Coachella?
[Sam]
We wanted to get it right,
we wanted to make sure
we worked as hard
as we fucking needed to.
Whoo!
Looking back on the show,
I'm incredibly proud
of what we accomplished.
[cheering and applause]
[running footsteps]
[Rue panting]
[Rue] What if you could go back
to the beginning?
-[sobbing]
-[videocassette whirring]
[interviewer] Okay, so give us
the origin story of Euphoria.
I think it was in 2016,
I got a call about an Israeli
format called Euphoria.
It was, you know,
kids behaving badly,
for lack of
a better description.
We decided to buy the format
and look for somebody...
who has their own take on it.
There was an executive that
worked in the drama department
named Christine Kim.
She had been aware of Sam's
rewrites for HBO films.
[Sam]
So, I go to sit down with
the head of HBO drama
Francesca Orsi.
And we just talk about
all of the fucking bad shit
we both did
when we were teenagers.
At the end of the meeting,
she goes,
"Well, go write that."
I said, absolutely.
So, I took certain experiences,
people I had grown up with
and the kind of situations
you find yourself in
when drugs are your
primary motivation in life.
And I just put all of it
on-- on paper.
[Casey] Part of the opportunity
was to show
teenagers today
are dealing with a lot
that we didn't have
to deal with.
You add drugs, social media,
-smartphones
to that equation...
-[phones dinging]
...that's what cracked it
for us a little bit.
Addiction is
a universal story,
but putting it in high school
and having a high school
student deal with it
was what felt
somewhat revolutionary.
And I think it's only at HBO
could we have really
gone there.
[Sam]
They were all very excited
and they greenlit the show.
I'm Zendaya, I play Rue,
and we are here
for the Euphoria premiere.
[Sam]
When the show first came out,
you know, we got
pretty good reviews.
We had certain viewership,
but it wasn't through the roof.
And also an enormous amount
of controversy at the time.
Wanna get high?
[Sam] I remember going like,
ah, fuck, you know,
this could go
either direction here.
It was right around the time
that Once Upon a Time
in Hollywood was coming out,
and Leonardo DiCaprio
was on the red carpet
and they said, you know,
"What have you been watching?"
I just saw Euphoria,
which is amazing.
That show is amazing.
[Sam] When he said that,
it was the first time
that the trajectory
of the show kinda changed.
We were an interesting show
that people had watched,
-some people had heard of.
-Goddammit!
[Sam]
But it wasn't popping yet.
And when he said that,
it sorta launched it
into, like, another
stratosphere.
Something shifted.
Getting a show out
is a small miracle.
So, I was happy when
it got the reception it did.
A big part of that,
I think, was the cast.
I'm Jacob Elordi,
and I'm 6'4".
-Hi, my name is Nika King.
-I'm Storm Reid.
I'm 12 years old
and I am Ashtray.
When we started casting,
we did very extensive search
for who these actors were.
-Oops.
-[Sam] You know,
we just sorta looked
for fresh faces and people
who hadn't necessarily
acted before,
but had a kind of,
a raw charisma to them.
Do you think my areolas
are weird?
-No!
-You're not even looking.
[Sam] And it was rounds
and rounds of auditions.
Mom, I'm literally going
to poison you in your sleep.
Sydney Sweeney,
she originally read for Maddy.
Do you think most people
are, like, 100% straight or...
And then we had asked her to
put herself on tape for
Cassie.
Oh, my God, Mom, stop!
When I auditioned
for Euphoria,
I didn't know what kind
of character Cassie was.
I talked to Sam,
and I found that I had
a really deep care for her,
and that was kind of
the beginning of it.
Why is everyone,
like, so dramatic?
Alexa, I just remember
meeting her, and her
coming in to read,
and her having
a very unique personality.
[clapping]
The first scene that, uh,
I had to go in and do
was the carnival scene
for a large group of people.
Yeah, I'm not supposed
to be here right now
because I'm dressed
like a hooker
and none of you like me.
I don't know what got into me,
but I was, like, charged.
And I looked at all of them,
and I said what I needed to say.
So, if they got
something to say,
they should just say it
to my face, right?
[Sam] I fell in love
with the character,
and suddenly
the possibilities
for where it could go
just became endless.
[Suze]
You look beautiful.
I don't know.
[chuckles nervously]
[Sam] Maude Apatow,
you can see all of the,
the sort of criticisms
she's launching at herself
in a given scene,
which then just, you know,
deepens the character.
You think she's, like,
a bad influence?
[Maude]
I just remember being
so nervous and so insecure.
I just wish I could have, like,
relaxed a little bit more.
That would have avoided a lot
of, uh, unnecessary energy.
The fuck are you looking at?
[Mary] Jacob Elordi,
he was new to us
because he's from Australia.
Who the fuck is that?
[Jacob]
I was getting ready to go home
and Euphoria was my last
audition that I had.
Yo, somebody better speak up,
or this bitch
is gonna get fucked up.
[Sam] He had sort of given up
on acting
and he was, I think,
living in his car.
He came in and he was just
so fucking good
-and committed.
-Did you rape her?
-No.
-Did you fucking rape her?!
[Jacob]
And I remember I got so red,
'cause I get so nervous.
He liked that, apparently.
[laughing] Come on.
I was driving home,
and then I got a call from--
from my agent, and he was like,
"Can you get back to the--
to the casting office?"
And I was like...
I whipped that car around.
Yo, I'd do it for Rue!
[kiss smacking]
And it all just kind of,
uh, it panned out.
[Mary]
It was such a great challenge
to try to discover
all the new talent
and make them
all fit together as one.
It made sense to see what
was out there in the real world.
And so, we worked
with Jennifer Venditti,
who was doing
the street casting.
A24 approached me and said,
like, Sam had wanted
to kind of use
my philosophy of casting
'cause I had developed
this idea of street scouting.
I'm 17 years old.
Some people just need
they ass whupped, like,
you know what I mean?
-[Jennifer]
I had scouts, like, all over.
-Two thumbs up.
[Jennifer] One day,
one of the young women
that works for me,
she saw these two guys,
gave them my business card
and said, like,
"If you're interested,
you should go by here."
And then the next day
I was at my office,
and Angus walked in.
My name's Angus Cloud...
and I'm from Oakland,
California.
Oakland, USA.
You get what I'm saying?
[Sam] So, I remember the first
tape that I saw of him.
The scout had said, "Can you
give me your, you know,
your name and height?"
Alright, my name Angus Cloud.
And I'm about 5'12".
I thought,
perfect, cast him.
[Jennifer] Hunter...
well, you know,
when we were looking for her,
it was a very hard role
to fill.
And then, I began
to reach out to people
in the fashion industry
that I knew.
And she was a person
that had come up.
See? I'm fucking invincible.
[scene partner]
You're a fucking psychopath.
We sort of all instantly knew,
oh, this is Jules.
Rue?
I have, like,
the best news ever.
[Hunter Schafer] Yeah,
I'd never really acted before,
and I was kind of just
playing it like myself.
I got the sense pretty fast
that that's what they wanted.
I remember getting the role
and being like,
holy shit, yeah!
And then immediately after
is like,
oh, my fucking God, dread,
because now
I have to do it.
[Mary] Zendaya was on
Sam's vision board for Rue.
Her representatives
were a little bit nervous
about the material
and it being so edgy.
[Zendaya] I had just kind of
finished a phase of my career.
I was like, oh shit.
Like, I have to be an actor now.
I don't know
what I'm gonna do next,
and nobody really believes yet
that I can do
what I think I can do,
and I don't quite know
if I can do it either.
And then, I read a little thing
called Euphoria,
and I was like,
I have to be a part of this.
[photographers shouting]
[photographer]
Now the stairs!
[Hunter Harris]
Before Euphoria,
Zendaya was
a Disney Channel actress.
At the 2019 Met Gala,
she appeared
as, like, Cinderella.
And it did feel like sort of
a graduation day
from the Disney roots.
I think a lot of child actors
spend time shedding an image,
and I think the things
that make you successful
as like a child actor
sometimes don't make you
successful as an adult actor.
You know, you're hiding
your emotions.
You're playing
with more nuance.
Rick, I sincerely apologize
for telling you
to go fuck yourself.
What I really meant to say
is that my mom can do better
and I hate seeing you sit
in the chair my dad sat in.
[Sam] Early on,
I sent the pilot over to her.
She called
and she was very emotional.
And she was saying, you know,
"Just watched the pilot,
"and I always felt like
I had this in me
"that I could give
a performance like this.
"I just-- I never
had any proof.
And now, I have proof."
It was a big emotional moment,
and I think-- that's how I
think we all approached it
from every department,
from the cast to myself.
You know, we all had
something to prove.
Yeah. It's gonna be
a good night tonight, man.
Let's get this money.
[Sam] I have to be honest,
I was scared to death
through a good portion
of shooting season one.
So, the same way that you take
the money with both hands.
I believed in the vision
for the show.
I believed that it would work.
But it was enormously
difficult.
[crew] And background moving,
and action.
[Sam] I wanted to draw on,
not necessarily
our own real memories
of what high school was like...
but more of the shared memories
that we have as a culture.
That was one
of the sort of mottos we had
for season one,
was, "fuck reality."
It's about how
high school feels.
It's not about how it is
or what it is.
[Marcell Rv]
That first season,
we were figuring out who we
are, I think, in a way.
We experimented
with a lot of things.
[director] [voice echoing]
That's a cut!
[dramatic music playing]
[Marcell] There were a lot
of teen shows out there,
and some of them
were mimicry to me,
or they were just not
courageous enough.
Oops!
[Marcell] We just wanted
to give a little justice
to-- to this generation,
how we thought they think
about themselves.
[Maddy] Honestly,
fuck that whole family.
-[Cassie] For real.
-'Cause right now,
I'm looking at a thousand
versions of myself,
and not only do I look good,
I fucking feel good.
Me too, bitch.
[Sam]
Season one, we were going
for like a real kind of cocaine
manic energy to it.
[crew] Cameras and mark.
[Sam] Season two,
it gets a little darker.
-Rue! Rue!
-I can't do this.
-[car horns honking]
-I'm sorry, Mom, I can't.
I can't do it.
-Rue, get back in the car!
-I'm sorry.
-Rue!
-Oh, God!
-[car horns honking]
-[tires screeching]
[Sam] We wanted to create
a certain sort of roughness
and a darkness to it,
because season two,
we're leaving
the magical part behind
and we're entering
the depths of addiction.
I kept seeing it like a memory
that was fading away,
that-- that there was like
a darkness
on the edge of the frames
that was eclipsing
the characters.
Let's fucking do this.
[Marcell] It's a totally
different approach.
It was more of like an
adult look at teenage-hood...
I raised you!
[Marcell]
...rather than teenagers
talking about themselves.
And you do not
fucking scare me!
Season one and season two,
we were very subjective.
We were inside
the characters' heads.
Gracias, mi amigos!
-[man] S! S!
-[Rue laughing]
[Sam] Season three
is sort of like a--
an Old Testament-inspired
Western.
[Western music playing]
I wanted us to be not inside
their heads anymore,
but outside, observing them
in the world.
They're out of high school
and they're in the Wild West.
There's no safety net.
No one's gonna
come save them.
It's a wide-open world
and anything can happen.
You walk up into my house,
dance with my girls,
and you don't even
introduce yourself.
I'm so sorry.
[Marcell] I always thought
about this as a little bit
of an homage
of American cinema.
-Hi.
-You look amazing.
[Marcell] We want it
to be like a broader,
wider tableau
of contemporary American life
in a different way.
-[gunshot]
-[Alamo] Whoo!
Oh, man.
[Marcell] We wanted
rich, colorful images.
We wanted to have
these beautiful landscapes.
Big skies, wide horizon.
I-I hope it gives you
this feeling
of classic American cinema.
[Nate]
Look who the cat dragged in.
You got anything to drink?
At the end of the day, we've got
a couple of guiding
principles,
which is, we don't wanna
repeat ourselves.
We don't wanna tell
the same story.
We don't wanna do
what we know works
just because
we've done it before.
We wanna continue
to sort of push ourselves,
push the narrative,
push the performances.
I wanna make sure
that we're always evolving.
Man, I miss high school.
[Maddy] I don't.
[Sam]
We took a similar approach
with our makeup department
and our costume department.
Rue, you look fucking amazing.
What the fuck
are we talking for?
[Ashley Levinson]
Sam's inspired by anything.
It can be from a set
that he's shown
or a costume
that's presented,
or a makeup look.
It just all helps
inform the story.
Do you like it?
[Donni Davy] We wanted
the makeup on this show
to really, like, become alive
and, like, say something
about what the characters
were thinking
and going through.
They're real,
they're relatable.
The makeup is so a part of
the character coming to life.
There.
[Jules chuckles]
I missed you so much.
[Sydney Sweeney]
We have mood boards
upon mood boards
all over the trailer.
We'll either draw inspiration
from the costume
or we'll find inspiration
from the nails.
And all is just like
this big, huge production
that is put together
just for one look.
But it'll be an iconic look.
[Suze]
Look at you, wow!
[Heidi Bivens] One of
the challenges was to be able
to find some way visually
to create a world
that was visually stimulating,
but also being grounded
so that people weren't pulled
out of the story.
The goal is to take her
from the suburbs to the city.
[all] Cool.
Instead of building one world,
we're kind of building
different worlds
for each character,
and they all get to co-mingle
and become Euphoria.
What the fuck
are we talking for?
Iconic looks are what
Euphoria's whole brand is
when it comes to their makeup
and costumes,
that the hair
had to be something.
What the fuck
are we squabbling for?
[Kim] One of the things
Sam said early on,
you know, "I wanna go there
and be innovative."
So, that was
really the approach,
we wanna go next level,
trendsetting,
and just different.
[whispering]
Oh my God, it's perfect.
[Alexa] I grew up
with fashion and beauty,
and Euphoria,
it felt like playtime.
It was just this
beautiful dreamland
of, like,
jewels on your eyes,
wear crazy colors.
Just what are
your biggest fantasies
that you would like
to see on film?
And you're just free to play.
[Rosalia]
It's in our clothes,
our hair, the face,
the creativity is on the front.
And then, I think the music,
it's the center of it all,
it's that freedom
and that... "poof."
[Sam] When writing the pilot,
I was trying to figure out
what the sound
of the show was.
And in my head, I kept hearing
some sort of mixture
of, like, Danny Elfman's
Edward Scissorhands score
mixed with, like,
Kanye's Yeezus.
[dramatic music playing]
When I would talk
to composers about it,
a lot of them seemed like
they had no fucking idea
what I was talking about.
And I went out
to-- to dinner with Lab,
and immediately,
he understood it.
He liked the idea
that I was really
expressive
with my arrangements.
And so he was like,
I think you might have the idea
of how to merge different
genres and styles
in a kind of like
modern way.
I literally started
thinking of ideas
as soon as I spoke to him.
And he like pulls out his phone
and starts to hum something
into his-- into his voice
notes.
Feel the morning
on my face
Ain't a pill
that I didn't take
[Sam] It's that thing
you're always looking for,
is, you know,
you throw out an idea
and then someone takes that
idea and runs with it.
[Labrinth]
He kind of just said,
"Lab, I just want you
to do you."
And so I was writing
before I was in the studio.
I felt like I knew
exactly what he wanted.
[Sam] He sent over music
that he had at the time,
and we just started
breaking it apart,
cutting in just his voice
a cappella.
You're a dead man
[Sam]
These little
choral arrangements
things like that.
You gonna run game,
it don't ever run you
[Sam] And it felt like,
you know, the show
suddenly gained its wings.
Had a kind of an emotional,
kinda heavenly quality to it,
which I think
is a nice juxtaposition to,
you know, darkness that
the show can sometimes have.
[dramatic, electronic
music playing]
In the first two seasons,
in a way, Labrinth's music
sort of spoke
to the mysterious heart
of a teenager.
[dramatic music
continues playing]
Going into season three,
Sam wanted there to be
a musical palette
that could match
the visual palette.
Hans Zimmer has essentially
made a name
for-- in working
on that epic scale.
[Sam] For season three,
I wanted something
that created
a cohesive element
from the beginning
to the end
and evoked sort of an old
Hollywood sensibility,
you know, something
that isn't as fashionable,
but has its own
kind of magic and allure.
[Jason Reitman]
Most television shows,
they don't know what they are
in their infancy.
Yeah, they all know
what's up
Yeah, they all know
what's up
[Jason] Euphoria knew exactly
what it was from moment one.
What, you think 'cause I went
to rehab, I stayed clean?
[Jason] Its color, its design,
the tone of the show,
its ability to be
extraordinarily explicit.
Sam's someone
who has never written
or directed
with any barriers in mind,
and that's a really important
type of storyteller,
because they are
the storytellers
that tell us what is allowed.
They tell us what a movie
or a TV show is capable of.
Let me not go too far
Yo, yo, how 'bout you come
and ride on this dick?
-[Nate laughing]
-Yo, Nate, chill, bro.
Come on, man.
[Casey] You know,
when the show came out,
I definitely got
a lot of worry.
Any time there's hand-wringing,
sometimes a sign
of something good to come.
There should be hand-wringing,
there should be worry,
because it means you're doing
something dangerous or new.
When I wrote a review
for NPR.org,
and I used the phrase,
"Euphoria is a parent's
worst nightmare."
I think people
who watch the show
knew exactly what
I was getting at.
It's the idea
that these teenagers
have sort of this secret life
that the adults in their life
are mostly unaware of,
and it's a life that is filled
with explicit behavior, uh,
that, of course, parents would
hope their kids were not doing.
[Hunter Harris]
A lot of people were saying
it's like romanticizing
or glamorizing drugs,
and alcohol,
and sex, and partying,
and all of this stuff.
-And I'm like...
-Fuck!
...I'm sorry, were we watching
the same show?
[sobbing] I just wanna die!
[Hunter Harris] It makes all
of these things look terrible.
It makes being a teenager
look like a terrible time,
which it honestly is.
You did this to me!
[Sam] There were so many
responses to it.
Parent Television Council
was upset with us.
People from the religious
community upset with us,
from the left, from the right.
Across the board,
there was an enormous amount
-of kind of pushback.
-Get off of me!
[Sam] You kinda go,
we don't create characters
by like, you know, a composite
of every single
Gen Z person in the world.
We're not trying to tell
a story that's representative
of all teenagers.
We're telling it about these
specific, unique characters,
these sort of misfits,
and fuck-ups, and outsiders.
Oh, shit, that's the girl
who tried to commit suicide
-at McKay's.
-[both] Wait, what?
Oh, yeah, I forgot.
You guys both was fucking.
[Dr. Judith Joseph]
Critics and parents who say
that this
is hard to watch,
I-- I can validate
that it is hard to watch.
But it's necessary
to talk about these things.
There used to be this thinking
that, like, if you talk
about substance use,
they're gonna use drugs.
If you talk about sex,
they're gonna have sex.
But we now know that
that's not the case.
Rue, why'd you call me?
I didn't really have
anybody else to call.
[Judith]
When you actually talk
about these issues,
without judgment,
without stigma,
openly, and you're curious,
that actually decreases
risky behavior.
I think the show is bigger than
just its sort of sexual quality.
It is about people
trying to find their voice
and find agency
over their body,
and figuring out what we
all have proclivities towards.
Let me know when you wanna
stop trying to kill yourself.
Sam is an expert provocateur
as a filmmaker.
He is often presenting
the audience
with images that challenge
them.
-Five!
-[Eric] That's one reason
-why people...
-Four!
...respond to Sam so strongly.
Three!
-[Eric] It's so obvious
that Euphoria...
-Two!
-...is a creation of his vision.
-One. Boom!
-[both gasp]
You a cold motherfucker.
[gunshot]
This business, it becomes
personal in a way.
You have to
accept criticism...
-[knocking]
-...as part of the world
you're in.
Are you okay?
You're so fucking stupid, Lexi.
He's dealing with something
that he knows very well.
He's writing the characters
with all of their
vulnerability...
[sobbing] I really need
to come home, Mom.
[Barry Levinson]
...and pushing, you know,
the envelope...
-Bang!
-[actors gasp]
...to that world.
He's never looking for
the shock value of something.
He's looking for the situation
that exposes and embellishes
a character and a behavior
to the darker side
or to the lighter side,
which hadn't been done much
in terms
of high school films
we've seen.
That was the noise
that he made
and the risk
that he wanted to take.
[doctor] All done.
[Barry]
You're never going to appeal
to all the people all the time.
[smacking]
You move past that
and-- and you just get on with
the work of the day.
[multiple reporters]
We have a warning about
a new show pushing...
-It's called Euphoria.
-This is the real deal.
And it's targeted to teens.
Creator Sam Levinson
remained committed
to making an exceptional
third season.
This might not be
the show for you.
[Sam] What was exciting
is all of those responses
sort of fueled
all these other responses.
So, it became this thing
that continued
to generate conversation.
Let's get the fuck outta here.
-Come on.
-[laughing]
[Sam]
As a filmmaker, the only goal
is you wanna tell
a great, entertaining story,
and you want people
to talk about it.
Oh, my fucking God.
-What?
-That's him.
[Sam] Everyone's gonna
have a different opinion.
That's the beauty of it all.
You just want to make sure
you're continuing
to engage
the audience.
[all laughing]
I'm a burden,
and it is what it is.
And it's embarrassing
and it's stupid, but, um,
it's true, so I'm sorry.
[Sam] You know, we were like
a controversial
bad kid kinda show.
And the Emmy goes to...
Zendaya, Euphoria.
[cheering and applause]
[Sam] When Zendaya
won that Emmy,
I mean, it was just like
an explosion of emotion.
All the work,
all the preparation.
[Sam] You know,
I-I remember I was at home
with Ash, my wife.
I mean, we just looked
at each other
and just started crying.
To the incredible cast
and crew of Euphoria,
um, I'm so lucky to go
to work with you every day,
and I'm inspired
by everything you do.
And we both started sobbing
because it was this
beautiful validation.
And Sam realized there's a lot
more story he wanted to tell,
and that was the birth
of season two.
[Zendaya laughing]
[cheering and applause]
[Sam] After season one,
there was a certain momentum
with the show,
and we were eager
to get back to work.
We were a day away from starting
production on season two
when COVID hit
and shut us down.
We wanted to get
everyone working again,
so I talked to HBO.
They said, "Fine,
you can go shoot
an episode for five days."
So, I said, okay, well,
what story can I tell
in five days?
Whatever limitations
or restrictions we had,
as a filmmaker,
you just gotta work around.
We ended up building
these character portraits
of two individuals at sort of
different places
in their lives,
how they see each other,
and how they see themselves.
The first one
that came to mind
was just Ali and Rue
sitting at a diner talking.
I had written like the first,
I think 15 pages.
It was supposed to go
in an episode in season two,
and I just started to run
with the idea
of, well, what if we just
never leave the diner?
D and E, camera mark.
[Sam] Two misfits, in a way,
sitting at a diner,
talking about what addiction
has cost them in their lives.
And action.
Ali, I picked up
a piece of glass.
I pointed it at my mom...
and I told her
I was gonna kill her.
[Sam]
It was a really dark time.
I thought of all the people
who aren't able
to leave their house,
the amount of people
struggling with depression...
addiction...
and those who were in
abusive situations.
I wanted Ali to deal
with some of these things
in a more sort of philosophical
and metaphysical way.
[Ali] Your whole system's
on the verge of collapse,
and the addict in you is trying
to sell you on the same shit
that got you sick
in the first place.
Your only hope is a revolution.
But a real fucking revolution
inside and out.
But you gotta see it through.
[Colman Domingo]
I read it and I--
I started crying.
And I thought, oh,
what he's delivered
is a sermon.
It's a prayer for all of us.
You said you weren't gonna
be here much longer.
Okay, then.
How do you want your mom
and sister to remember you?
That special episode
is not just about addiction.
It really is about
our humanity.
I got faith in you.
[sniffling]
Why?
It is about us having faith,
especially at a time
that we all have questions
and we're all struggling.
-[Zendaya] Good job,
guys, we did it.
-[crew] Wow.
And we're all trying to find
out what the next step is.
Thank you guys
for a great shoot.
It truly felt important.
[Zendaya] See you soon.
[people chattering]
[Sam] Well, there we go. COVID.
At least we know
how to do this once now.
-[Zendaya] See you soon.
-[crew] See you soon.
[Sam] Let's roll camera!
[crew] Yep, speeding.
And... action!
[Sam] Jules' special episode,
you know, I had envisioned
getting kind of a window
into her kind of inner life.
Hunter obviously has a very
unique and interesting story.
You know, I thought if I was
gonna do this-- this episode,
it would be
interesting to sort of,
you know, bring her on
as a collaborator.
We would just sorta talk about
her life and--
and the character,
and tried to find
this sort of poetic
kind of free-form structure
for this episode.
[people chattering]
That was my first experience
really screenwriting.
And I really kind of
fell in love with it.
I was able to sort of channel
a lot of the like, you know,
kind of unique feelings
about like being a trans woman
and how confusing
that can be sometimes.
How the fuck did I spend
my entire life building this?
Like... [sighs]
Like my body, and my
personality, and, like...
my soul around
what I think men desire.
COVID was really hard on me,
and that time brought up a lot.
Were you thinking about
hurting yourself?
[Schafer]
I'd been, you know, struggling
for a good chunk of it,
and was able
to pour a lot of that pain
into the episode.
Sorry, um...
I am glad we did it
because, like,
I know that I would have
fucking loved that episode
as a young trans girl.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I should go.
-[door slams closed]
-[Colman] I was at the gym
and this bro came over to me,
and he said,
"I just wanted to say
I'm such a huge fan of yours,
"and in particular,
that scene you did with Zendaya,
that special episode."
I said, yeah.
He said,
"It means so much for me.
I'm a recovering addict."
And he started to tremble.
He was so emotionally
overwhelmed.
I said, "Come here, come here.
We're gonna hug it out."
He says, "You get gym dudes come
up to you crying all the
time?"
I said, no, but it's okay.
I know the work
that I'm a part of.
[Judith] I think fans
have emotional connections
to these characters because
the characters in themselves
are portrayed
in a very empathic way.
Rue, open the door!
[Judith]
They're not just this
two-dimensional clich.
Rue!
[Judith]
And so, you see Rue as someone
who struggles with addiction,
but she's also playful.
She's silly,
she's loyal, she's lovable.
She's not demonized.
And I think that's why
a lot of people
who have struggles
similar to these characters,
I think that's why
they appreciate it,
because they're not seen
as necessarily all bad.
They're seen in full ways.
I really missed you.
[Sam] You always hope
that whatever you do
is not just gonna
be entertaining,
but it's also gonna be
inspiring in some way.
Thank you to Sam Levinson
for writing a character
like Ali for me.
[Sam] It gave everybody
a real sense of confidence
that what we were doing
was hitting the culture
in a new way.
[Sam] Uh, and just take
two steps back here.
-She kisses you.
-Okay.
I think you're still
disturbed by her.
Okay.
[indistinct chatter, laughter]
[Sam] Most television shows,
the first season,
they push buttons,
and there's nudity,
and there's sex.
And then by season two,
you know, they're a little more
buttoned up,
a little more PC.
And our desire was,
how can we let everyone know...
we didn't grow up?
I'm the bad guy
-Hi.
-Duh
[Sam] Fuck you, we know
what your complaints were.
We don't give a shit.
We're gonna push it
even further.
-[glass breaking]
-[people gasping and shouting]
-[knocking]
-[heavy breathing]
[Hunter Harris]
Prior to season two premiering,
there was so much hype.
What could Euphoria
season two look like?
What direction could it go?
How could it feel?
And would it be able to, like,
recapture the same magic?
So you're a tough guy
And also because so many
of the stars in Euphoria
had become such big stars
in real life...
-That's what's up.
-...there was so much,
um, anticipation.
[fan]
What the fuck?
[Hunter Harris] The premiere,
it crashed the HBO app.
Bitch, you better be joking.
[Hunter Harris]
Season two was crowned
the most social show on TV.
People were so passionate.
Tell her off, Maddy!
Tell her off!
[Hunter Harris]
Sunday night was a night
to watch Euphoria.
Would you like a ride
to this party?
No! Oh, my God, no!
[Hunter Harris]
Immediately when you
get on the internet,
there's like, photos,
videos, memes, tweets.
-Nate Jacobs is her ex.
-Yeah.
The fans were ravenous.
-Oh!
-[fans exclaiming]
Hold on, pause.
Fandom for teen shows,
that's not new.
But, like,
the level of specificity,
the level of time the fans had
to talk about Euphoria online
felt really constant,
and also unique.
Stranger
[Hunter Harris]
There was that TikTok trend,
the "Still Don't Know my Name"
transition.
[Maude] Thousands of people
are making, like, makeup videos
to this song, like, what?
There's somebody on Instagram
that would do Barbie
recreations of scenes.
[Maude]
There's a lot of cool fan art.
Gosh, is my left eye massive
compared to my right eye?
New insecurity unlocked.
For it to have become
a cultural flashpoint,
and then a touchstone.
Bitch, you better be joking.
Things that are joked about
on nighttime shows.
Are you okay?
No! Yes! [Bleep] it.
I'm in love with Nate Jacobs
and he's in love with me.
And don't you [bleep] give me
that look, Maddy!
There's no way I expected that.
[Cal] Your mother's the one
who showed me.
Euphoria was everywhere.
[Cassie] I am crazier!
[Ashley] One of Sam and I's
favorite thing to do
is when we're traveling,
we always take pictures
with the actors'
campaign photos,
and there's always, like,
a sweetness to that,
that they've been embraced
both in film and television,
but also in fashion.
I just can't get you out
of my head, boy, it's...
[Sydney] I noticed the impact
on pop culture
a little bit after season one.
I would go to fashion shows.
They were heavily influenced
by Euphoria.
The lighting, the music,
the makeup.
[Hunter Schafer]
Fashion is one of
the great loves of my life.
Working with designers
that are like gods in my head
is pretty thrilling.
[Colman] Zendaya has been
co-chair of the Met Gala,
and then the following year,
I was the co-chair
of the Met Gala.
I think we both have a sense of
play and understanding style,
and also that's part
of storytelling.
And I think that's what
our-- our costume designers
and our hair and makeup team
does so very well
with Euphoria.
The miracles have begun.
-[laughing]
-[mugs clinking]
-Amen.
-Hallelujah.
It's been incredible to watch
the reaction to Euphoria,
because I think in the same way
that Sam has been inspired
by art, and music,
and architecture, and film,
to see it mirrored back
has been incredibly rewarding.
There's a huge opportunity
to reach
an even bigger audience.
[Sam] How are you
feeling tonight, Coachella?
[cheering and applause]
[Ashley] And for us to have
something tangible
that the audience
can take away
to create a more
cinematic experience,
it's a dream come true.
[Sam] We put our heart and
souls into this season,
and, uh, we're extremely
proud of it.
[Hunter Harris]
The fact that Euphoria,
after years
off the air, can come back
and still be
I think its own
cultural conversation
is kind of crazy.
The only thing I can promise
is wherever you think
this season's going,
it's going a little further.
-Thank you.
-[cheering and applause]
Euphoria is the series
that really meets the zeitgeist
of what's happening
in the world.
What you see on television
directly impacts the way
we see one another.
[Sharon Stone]
Euphoria offers
the generation empathy.
That's what I think
makes it different.
Bye.
Skeletons in the closet
And it offers us
an opportunity to see
why do young people think
and feel this way?
-[laughter]
-[Sharon] And then we're going
inside their rooms,
inside their lives.
And we're viewing it
with care,
and tenderness, and humor.
We're not judging.
We're feeling with them.
And I think that is something
that's very different.
[chuckles]
[Sydney] Sam uses all
the different characters
to be able to tap
into those emotions
and-- and the fears
and the questions
that are being asked.
I think that's kind of
what makes it
so relevant and so powerful.
[Sam] Uh, let's just do
a rehearsal and nail that
and then we'll--
we'll continue on.
And, uh, so we'll take it
from the top here.
Alright, let's give it a shot.
[crew] And action!
[drum roll]
But our life.
Wait, is this fucking play
about us?
[Sam] I honestly believe
that one of the reasons
that this show
found a certain success
across all the seasons
is that even
if you're not a drug addict...
[screaming]
...everyone knows
what addiction feels like.
Euphoria serves everything up
as addiction.
Love is a million things.
Sometimes it feels good,
sometimes it doesn't.
People think that
it's always about drugs.
No, it could be your phone.
It could be certain behaviors.
It could be sex, whatever.
See, I'm not a mess,
but I do love a fight.
[Sam]
Even on a subconscious level,
you understand
being wed to something
that is not making you happy,
that is making you depressed.
She's not good for you,
you're not good for her,
and I will do everything
I can to prevent it.
[whimpering]
[Zendaya] Where I think often
when it comes to addiction,
we forget that that person
is a human,
and that person feels
and goes through things,
and there's a reason
why they are the way they are.
The show overall
I think allows us
to have a little bit
more empathy for people
and understanding for people.
Sam does a beautiful job
in showing, like,
this is not easy.
Leslie's pain comes
from a real place.
-Don't you fucking touch her!
-[smacking]
Because he-- he knows
what it's like.
-[Jules] I love you.
-No, the fuck you don't.
You love being loved.
[Sam] You know, there were
definitely a lot of things
that-- that I drew on
from my own life
or own experiences.
My body is a cage
[Sam]
I do know what it's like
to be institutionalized
as-- as a kid.
You know, to be on medication
when you're young.
I wanted to show the loneliness
and the kind of darkness
of being an addict...
-[whispering] It's okay, Rue.
-[Rue shuddering]
[Sam]
...and be able to separate
who they are
and their actions...
from who they may wanna be.
My body is a cage
That keeps me from dancing
With the one I love
I'm extremely proud of what
we accomplished on season two,
and I think we really did
reach new heights
in terms of the show.
I just wanna say thank you
to everyone who has shared
their story with me.
I want you to know
that anyone who has loved a Rue
or, um, feels like
they are a Rue,
I want you to know that I'm
so grateful for your stories,
and I carry them with me,
and I carry them with her.
-So, thank you so much.
-[cheering and applause]
[Sam]
Season two was a success,
but it was never exactly
what I wanted it to be.
And I don't say that in like
a-- a regretful way, it's...
[clicking tongue]
You know, it, uh,
it was-- it was a tough one.
Yo, man, I don't know
what's been going on
with you, Rue,
and Jules and shit...
but you should know
I really do care about her.
[Sam]
I had written the scripts
for all eight episodes,
and Angus was really
struggling, um, with
addiction.
He had that head injury
and he would get
these migraines,
and it would inevitably
lead him back to doing drugs,
taking pills,
that kind of stuff.
And so, it was--
it was really tough.
And I have a lot of empathy
for-- for people
who are going through
addiction.
I heard you got raided.
But they ain't find
nothin' though.
[Sam]
You know, the other thing is...
the character of Fezco
was supposed to die
at the end of season one.
So, we all good?
[Sam] And...
I just-- I loved Angus...
so much.
And I always worried that
if I killed the character...
he wouldn't have anything
to look forward to.
So, season one, okay,
you know, I kept him alive.
-Don't move!
-Hands up!
Drop the knife now!
[Sam] Season two, you know,
he's gotta die at the end,
-and it was this whole thing.
-Please, don't shoot!
I gave him the pages
and it was like...
this cloud that was--
it was sort of hovering
over him.
Like two hours later,
I was like,
"Alright, fuck it, Angus,
I can't do it."
Fezco lives.
He said, "Well, what are you
gonna do?"
I said,
"Well, I'm gonna kill Ashtray."
He's like, "Damn, that's dark,"
you know? [chuckles]
[reporter] TMZ is reporting
that Angus Cloud,
the actor made famous
on the HBO show Euphoria,
has died.
[somber music playing]
[Eric Dane]
We lost a cast member.
We lost a very talented
young man, Angus Cloud.
That was tough on all of us.
It's Euphoria. Yeah.
[Maude]
Getting to work with Angus
was like one of the great
privileges of my life.
I got something
in my fucking eye.
[laughing]
...is dark
-[both chuckle]
-And the moon
[Fezco singing along]
Is the only
He was such
a special person,
and so kind,
and so, like, grounding...
in the group.
["Stand By Me"
continues playing]
Like, the night
that it happened,
we all had each other
and called each other,
and that was, like, everything.
Just as long as you stand
Stand by me
[both singing]
Darling, darling
Stand by me
Oh, stand by me
[Sam] Part of the reason that,
that I made this season is...
is for Angus.
[sniffling]
[Angus]
Best part of my life?
Just the love that I have
to give and to receive,
you know what I'm saying?
Everywhere.
You know, surrounded by it.
[crew] We're finishing
our dirt redress.
[Sam] Season three
is about fentanyl...
and how many people's...
lives, um...
a-are being taken by it.
It's about salvation...
and the sort of moral choices
we make.
And... action!
It's about redemption,
but not just in
a theoretical or academic way,
but in a...
but in a real way.
-Great, great work.
-[crew] Here we go.
-Right away. And...
-[Sam] Go again.
[Sam] Whatever mistakes
and things
you've made in your life
leading up to now
doesn't define who you can be
if you decide to change.
-[Rue inhales sharply]
-[Bishop] If I were you,
I'd stay real still.
[Sam]
And we're sort of building
to the end of the story.
That's also
what's exciting about it.
-[gunshot]
-[gasps]
-[gunshot echoing]
-Ooh! Ooh!
[laughing]
Whoo! [laughing continues]
[gentle music playing]
[Sam]
I think what was most exciting
was going back to the set...
to work with this incredible
cast of-- of actors.
[Maude] The wedding scene,
it was really emotional.
Like, I remember
I was walking down the aisle
and got to the front,
and, like, looked down
and saw, like,
everyone in the cast.
We just are sort of connected
in a very deep way and have
been through a lot together.
[applause]
I'm so, like, happy
for everyone's success.
Everyone is doing so well
and getting to do what
they've always wanted to do.
Yeah. Right?
[Sam] To hear filmmakers
and directors,
you know, who I idolize,
talk about how great they are,
is just fucking amazing.
And to see the hard work
and the creativity pay off
in-- in such a big way
is-- is exciting.
[Ashley] We've really always
had each other's backs
and-- and we support each other
and we root for each other.
Serious face?
I think someone
has to take it of us.
Eric had called Sam
right before we were shooting
and he had
shared his diagnoses.
[Sam] He told me that he had
been diagnosed with ALS.
You know, I said to him
I loved him
and, uh, I would take him
in whatever way
he wanted to show up.
And action.
I feel loved,
mostly by my scotch.
Oh.
[Ashley] Eric is such
a talented actor, um,
and so great with comedy.
Now, yell out for the waiter!
Waiter!
-Hey, waiter!
-[Sam] Round three!
-[Eric] Round three!
-Ooh! Yeah.
He was just brilliant.
It was a pretty
humbling thing to witness.
-[Sam] Action!
-[Eric] Alright.
I'm gonna keep drinking.
You keep drinking.
-Nate, I love you.
-[applause]
[Eric] Working on this show
has been the most profound
experience of my career.
We could live
I "Juana"
make love to you, girl!
For a thousand years
It was, you know,
at times, challenging.
Huh?!
But the challenges
were taken as opportunities.
Do you mind if I just leave?
It's been just such
a wonderful experience.
[Sam] He gave an incredible
fucking performance
across all the seasons.
You are a part of me...
I will never understand.
[Sam] He showed up
every day with grace
and dignity, and excited
to do the work.
He was a wonderful human being.
He was a wonderful actor.
I'll see you assholes later.
["Never Tear Us Apart"
continues, ends]
[door closes]
-[people chattering]
-Lexi.
[crew] I don't think we need
a ten-piece on Lexi.
Bitch one. My bitch two.
-Oh, my God. Rude!
-My bitch three.
Get off my bed!
[Sam]
We've been through so much.
We've had so many ups
and downs,
and you really get to know
who these people are
on the inside.
It's an incredibly
beautiful experience.
You know, we've always had
an extraordinarily gifted cast.
And I've known these actors
since back when
they were just dreamers,
when they dreamed
of having a career.
-You guys, thank you so much!
-Yeah, thank you, guys!
[Sydney]
I grew up with Euphoria.
I did the pilot when I was 20.
As an actor, it's made me
push myself further
to be confident,
to take risks and be okay
with laughing at yourself
if it doesn't work out,
and know that everybody's there
to support each other.
It's been the show
of a lifetime.
[cheering and applause]
[Sam] Alright, everyone,
that's a wrap
for Hunter Schafer.
[cheering and applause]
[Hunter Schafer]
Personally, I'm thankful
for the way the show
has taught me
how to act and write.
I think, like, that I want to
be as beautiful as the ocean.
But I don't think
I would be an actor
if things had not gone
exactly the way they had
with this show.
[Sam] That is a wrap.
[cheering and applause]
It's been such an honor
to work with all of you.
Working on the show
was the formative experience
of my young life.
It's given me
so many opportunities,
and I've met so many people
that I hope I know
for the rest of my life.
Hi, babe! You look so good.
[Sam] And action.
[Jacob] All I've ever wanted
to do is act.
Personally, this show
has been an instrumental part
of not just my career,
but my life.
To realize you've, like,
grown up in front of a camera...
sort of in these characters,
it's a really sort
of beautiful thing.
Everything I ever said was
true.
People love it in every country,
regardless of color or creed.
[fan] Jacob!
[Jacob]
When you make a piece of art
and it moves people
or they feel something
through a scene that you did,
I mean,
that's the ultimate
pat on the back.
Oh, no, I'm gonna cry.
I feel incredibly grateful to
have been a part of this series.
It's like such a beautiful,
lucky feeling
to create something
that touches people
in any way.
Thank you all so much!
["Thank yous" and applause]
[Sam] I can't thank you enough
for your talent,
for your work ethic,
for your creativity.
And this show would not be
a shell of what it is
without you guys.
Looking back on the show,
I'm incredibly proud
of what we accomplished.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
[Sam] It's important
to take the darkness
that you go through in life
and try to give it life.
Wish you,
wish you could move
In terms of my own life
and my own experiences,
you know, I think taking the
sort of struggles of addiction
and turning it
into a television show
that's entertaining
is my own way
of trying to take what's dark
and give it
a little bit of light.
[Rue gasping]
[Sam] People are gonna
have different opinions
about what the ending
of Euphoria means.
Is she dying?
Oh, my fucking God!
Rue is gone.
I've never cried so much.
Wow.
[Sam]
I know what it means to me.
-Amen.
-[Ali sighs]
[Sam] We're just a small part
of a much larger story.
Amen.
[Sam]
And a really beautiful one.
I feel very blessed
and-- and grateful
to have spent, you know,
almost the last ten years
doing what I love to do
and being able to do it
with people that I love.
We had a great time.
The cast, the crew,
you know, the fans.
The show wouldn't have been
what it was
without you guys,
and I mean that.
So, from the bottom
of my heart...
thank you.
-[cheering and applause]
-That's a wrap.
Can't thank you enough.
Still don't know my name
You still don't know
my name
And I would die
your slave
Baby, right now
But you still
don't know my name
Yeah
Oh, no-no,
no-no-no, no-no
Oh, no-no,
no-no-no, no-no
[singer vocalizing]
Yeah
Oh, no-no,
no-no-no, no-no
[singer continues vocalizing]
[Maude Apatow]
I don't think any of us knew...
-I'm Jacob Elordi.
-Angus Cloud.
-Storm Reid.
-...the impact that
Euphoria would have.
I'm 12 years old
and I am Ashtray.
I had no idea.
Like, at all. [chuckles]
It's kinda crazy.
I look back on it.
We were, like, literal babies.
-Wait, are you actually scared?
-Yes, bitch!
[Jacob Elordi]
When you make a piece of art,
you don't know
what's gonna happen.
Hyah!
[Eric Deggans]
Sam is an expert
provocateur as a filmmaker.
[Sam Levinson]
You wanted to engage
the audience.
Everyone's gonna have
a different opinion.
-[screaming]
-Love yourself!
And that's the beauty
of it all.
[Alexa Demie]
It's like such a lucky feeling
to create something
that is this massive.
-[claps]
-I'm a huge fan of Euphoria
since the beginning.
How are you feeling tonight,
Coachella?
[Sam]
We wanted to get it right,
we wanted to make sure
we worked as hard
as we fucking needed to.
Whoo!
Looking back on the show,
I'm incredibly proud
of what we accomplished.
[cheering and applause]
[running footsteps]
[Rue panting]
[Rue] What if you could go back
to the beginning?
-[sobbing]
-[videocassette whirring]
[interviewer] Okay, so give us
the origin story of Euphoria.
I think it was in 2016,
I got a call about an Israeli
format called Euphoria.
It was, you know,
kids behaving badly,
for lack of
a better description.
We decided to buy the format
and look for somebody...
who has their own take on it.
There was an executive that
worked in the drama department
named Christine Kim.
She had been aware of Sam's
rewrites for HBO films.
[Sam]
So, I go to sit down with
the head of HBO drama
Francesca Orsi.
And we just talk about
all of the fucking bad shit
we both did
when we were teenagers.
At the end of the meeting,
she goes,
"Well, go write that."
I said, absolutely.
So, I took certain experiences,
people I had grown up with
and the kind of situations
you find yourself in
when drugs are your
primary motivation in life.
And I just put all of it
on-- on paper.
[Casey] Part of the opportunity
was to show
teenagers today
are dealing with a lot
that we didn't have
to deal with.
You add drugs, social media,
-smartphones
to that equation...
-[phones dinging]
...that's what cracked it
for us a little bit.
Addiction is
a universal story,
but putting it in high school
and having a high school
student deal with it
was what felt
somewhat revolutionary.
And I think it's only at HBO
could we have really
gone there.
[Sam]
They were all very excited
and they greenlit the show.
I'm Zendaya, I play Rue,
and we are here
for the Euphoria premiere.
[Sam]
When the show first came out,
you know, we got
pretty good reviews.
We had certain viewership,
but it wasn't through the roof.
And also an enormous amount
of controversy at the time.
Wanna get high?
[Sam] I remember going like,
ah, fuck, you know,
this could go
either direction here.
It was right around the time
that Once Upon a Time
in Hollywood was coming out,
and Leonardo DiCaprio
was on the red carpet
and they said, you know,
"What have you been watching?"
I just saw Euphoria,
which is amazing.
That show is amazing.
[Sam] When he said that,
it was the first time
that the trajectory
of the show kinda changed.
We were an interesting show
that people had watched,
-some people had heard of.
-Goddammit!
[Sam]
But it wasn't popping yet.
And when he said that,
it sorta launched it
into, like, another
stratosphere.
Something shifted.
Getting a show out
is a small miracle.
So, I was happy when
it got the reception it did.
A big part of that,
I think, was the cast.
I'm Jacob Elordi,
and I'm 6'4".
-Hi, my name is Nika King.
-I'm Storm Reid.
I'm 12 years old
and I am Ashtray.
When we started casting,
we did very extensive search
for who these actors were.
-Oops.
-[Sam] You know,
we just sorta looked
for fresh faces and people
who hadn't necessarily
acted before,
but had a kind of,
a raw charisma to them.
Do you think my areolas
are weird?
-No!
-You're not even looking.
[Sam] And it was rounds
and rounds of auditions.
Mom, I'm literally going
to poison you in your sleep.
Sydney Sweeney,
she originally read for Maddy.
Do you think most people
are, like, 100% straight or...
And then we had asked her to
put herself on tape for
Cassie.
Oh, my God, Mom, stop!
When I auditioned
for Euphoria,
I didn't know what kind
of character Cassie was.
I talked to Sam,
and I found that I had
a really deep care for her,
and that was kind of
the beginning of it.
Why is everyone,
like, so dramatic?
Alexa, I just remember
meeting her, and her
coming in to read,
and her having
a very unique personality.
[clapping]
The first scene that, uh,
I had to go in and do
was the carnival scene
for a large group of people.
Yeah, I'm not supposed
to be here right now
because I'm dressed
like a hooker
and none of you like me.
I don't know what got into me,
but I was, like, charged.
And I looked at all of them,
and I said what I needed to say.
So, if they got
something to say,
they should just say it
to my face, right?
[Sam] I fell in love
with the character,
and suddenly
the possibilities
for where it could go
just became endless.
[Suze]
You look beautiful.
I don't know.
[chuckles nervously]
[Sam] Maude Apatow,
you can see all of the,
the sort of criticisms
she's launching at herself
in a given scene,
which then just, you know,
deepens the character.
You think she's, like,
a bad influence?
[Maude]
I just remember being
so nervous and so insecure.
I just wish I could have, like,
relaxed a little bit more.
That would have avoided a lot
of, uh, unnecessary energy.
The fuck are you looking at?
[Mary] Jacob Elordi,
he was new to us
because he's from Australia.
Who the fuck is that?
[Jacob]
I was getting ready to go home
and Euphoria was my last
audition that I had.
Yo, somebody better speak up,
or this bitch
is gonna get fucked up.
[Sam] He had sort of given up
on acting
and he was, I think,
living in his car.
He came in and he was just
so fucking good
-and committed.
-Did you rape her?
-No.
-Did you fucking rape her?!
[Jacob]
And I remember I got so red,
'cause I get so nervous.
He liked that, apparently.
[laughing] Come on.
I was driving home,
and then I got a call from--
from my agent, and he was like,
"Can you get back to the--
to the casting office?"
And I was like...
I whipped that car around.
Yo, I'd do it for Rue!
[kiss smacking]
And it all just kind of,
uh, it panned out.
[Mary]
It was such a great challenge
to try to discover
all the new talent
and make them
all fit together as one.
It made sense to see what
was out there in the real world.
And so, we worked
with Jennifer Venditti,
who was doing
the street casting.
A24 approached me and said,
like, Sam had wanted
to kind of use
my philosophy of casting
'cause I had developed
this idea of street scouting.
I'm 17 years old.
Some people just need
they ass whupped, like,
you know what I mean?
-[Jennifer]
I had scouts, like, all over.
-Two thumbs up.
[Jennifer] One day,
one of the young women
that works for me,
she saw these two guys,
gave them my business card
and said, like,
"If you're interested,
you should go by here."
And then the next day
I was at my office,
and Angus walked in.
My name's Angus Cloud...
and I'm from Oakland,
California.
Oakland, USA.
You get what I'm saying?
[Sam] So, I remember the first
tape that I saw of him.
The scout had said, "Can you
give me your, you know,
your name and height?"
Alright, my name Angus Cloud.
And I'm about 5'12".
I thought,
perfect, cast him.
[Jennifer] Hunter...
well, you know,
when we were looking for her,
it was a very hard role
to fill.
And then, I began
to reach out to people
in the fashion industry
that I knew.
And she was a person
that had come up.
See? I'm fucking invincible.
[scene partner]
You're a fucking psychopath.
We sort of all instantly knew,
oh, this is Jules.
Rue?
I have, like,
the best news ever.
[Hunter Schafer] Yeah,
I'd never really acted before,
and I was kind of just
playing it like myself.
I got the sense pretty fast
that that's what they wanted.
I remember getting the role
and being like,
holy shit, yeah!
And then immediately after
is like,
oh, my fucking God, dread,
because now
I have to do it.
[Mary] Zendaya was on
Sam's vision board for Rue.
Her representatives
were a little bit nervous
about the material
and it being so edgy.
[Zendaya] I had just kind of
finished a phase of my career.
I was like, oh shit.
Like, I have to be an actor now.
I don't know
what I'm gonna do next,
and nobody really believes yet
that I can do
what I think I can do,
and I don't quite know
if I can do it either.
And then, I read a little thing
called Euphoria,
and I was like,
I have to be a part of this.
[photographers shouting]
[photographer]
Now the stairs!
[Hunter Harris]
Before Euphoria,
Zendaya was
a Disney Channel actress.
At the 2019 Met Gala,
she appeared
as, like, Cinderella.
And it did feel like sort of
a graduation day
from the Disney roots.
I think a lot of child actors
spend time shedding an image,
and I think the things
that make you successful
as like a child actor
sometimes don't make you
successful as an adult actor.
You know, you're hiding
your emotions.
You're playing
with more nuance.
Rick, I sincerely apologize
for telling you
to go fuck yourself.
What I really meant to say
is that my mom can do better
and I hate seeing you sit
in the chair my dad sat in.
[Sam] Early on,
I sent the pilot over to her.
She called
and she was very emotional.
And she was saying, you know,
"Just watched the pilot,
"and I always felt like
I had this in me
"that I could give
a performance like this.
"I just-- I never
had any proof.
And now, I have proof."
It was a big emotional moment,
and I think-- that's how I
think we all approached it
from every department,
from the cast to myself.
You know, we all had
something to prove.
Yeah. It's gonna be
a good night tonight, man.
Let's get this money.
[Sam] I have to be honest,
I was scared to death
through a good portion
of shooting season one.
So, the same way that you take
the money with both hands.
I believed in the vision
for the show.
I believed that it would work.
But it was enormously
difficult.
[crew] And background moving,
and action.
[Sam] I wanted to draw on,
not necessarily
our own real memories
of what high school was like...
but more of the shared memories
that we have as a culture.
That was one
of the sort of mottos we had
for season one,
was, "fuck reality."
It's about how
high school feels.
It's not about how it is
or what it is.
[Marcell Rv]
That first season,
we were figuring out who we
are, I think, in a way.
We experimented
with a lot of things.
[director] [voice echoing]
That's a cut!
[dramatic music playing]
[Marcell] There were a lot
of teen shows out there,
and some of them
were mimicry to me,
or they were just not
courageous enough.
Oops!
[Marcell] We just wanted
to give a little justice
to-- to this generation,
how we thought they think
about themselves.
[Maddy] Honestly,
fuck that whole family.
-[Cassie] For real.
-'Cause right now,
I'm looking at a thousand
versions of myself,
and not only do I look good,
I fucking feel good.
Me too, bitch.
[Sam]
Season one, we were going
for like a real kind of cocaine
manic energy to it.
[crew] Cameras and mark.
[Sam] Season two,
it gets a little darker.
-Rue! Rue!
-I can't do this.
-[car horns honking]
-I'm sorry, Mom, I can't.
I can't do it.
-Rue, get back in the car!
-I'm sorry.
-Rue!
-Oh, God!
-[car horns honking]
-[tires screeching]
[Sam] We wanted to create
a certain sort of roughness
and a darkness to it,
because season two,
we're leaving
the magical part behind
and we're entering
the depths of addiction.
I kept seeing it like a memory
that was fading away,
that-- that there was like
a darkness
on the edge of the frames
that was eclipsing
the characters.
Let's fucking do this.
[Marcell] It's a totally
different approach.
It was more of like an
adult look at teenage-hood...
I raised you!
[Marcell]
...rather than teenagers
talking about themselves.
And you do not
fucking scare me!
Season one and season two,
we were very subjective.
We were inside
the characters' heads.
Gracias, mi amigos!
-[man] S! S!
-[Rue laughing]
[Sam] Season three
is sort of like a--
an Old Testament-inspired
Western.
[Western music playing]
I wanted us to be not inside
their heads anymore,
but outside, observing them
in the world.
They're out of high school
and they're in the Wild West.
There's no safety net.
No one's gonna
come save them.
It's a wide-open world
and anything can happen.
You walk up into my house,
dance with my girls,
and you don't even
introduce yourself.
I'm so sorry.
[Marcell] I always thought
about this as a little bit
of an homage
of American cinema.
-Hi.
-You look amazing.
[Marcell] We want it
to be like a broader,
wider tableau
of contemporary American life
in a different way.
-[gunshot]
-[Alamo] Whoo!
Oh, man.
[Marcell] We wanted
rich, colorful images.
We wanted to have
these beautiful landscapes.
Big skies, wide horizon.
I-I hope it gives you
this feeling
of classic American cinema.
[Nate]
Look who the cat dragged in.
You got anything to drink?
At the end of the day, we've got
a couple of guiding
principles,
which is, we don't wanna
repeat ourselves.
We don't wanna tell
the same story.
We don't wanna do
what we know works
just because
we've done it before.
We wanna continue
to sort of push ourselves,
push the narrative,
push the performances.
I wanna make sure
that we're always evolving.
Man, I miss high school.
[Maddy] I don't.
[Sam]
We took a similar approach
with our makeup department
and our costume department.
Rue, you look fucking amazing.
What the fuck
are we talking for?
[Ashley Levinson]
Sam's inspired by anything.
It can be from a set
that he's shown
or a costume
that's presented,
or a makeup look.
It just all helps
inform the story.
Do you like it?
[Donni Davy] We wanted
the makeup on this show
to really, like, become alive
and, like, say something
about what the characters
were thinking
and going through.
They're real,
they're relatable.
The makeup is so a part of
the character coming to life.
There.
[Jules chuckles]
I missed you so much.
[Sydney Sweeney]
We have mood boards
upon mood boards
all over the trailer.
We'll either draw inspiration
from the costume
or we'll find inspiration
from the nails.
And all is just like
this big, huge production
that is put together
just for one look.
But it'll be an iconic look.
[Suze]
Look at you, wow!
[Heidi Bivens] One of
the challenges was to be able
to find some way visually
to create a world
that was visually stimulating,
but also being grounded
so that people weren't pulled
out of the story.
The goal is to take her
from the suburbs to the city.
[all] Cool.
Instead of building one world,
we're kind of building
different worlds
for each character,
and they all get to co-mingle
and become Euphoria.
What the fuck
are we talking for?
Iconic looks are what
Euphoria's whole brand is
when it comes to their makeup
and costumes,
that the hair
had to be something.
What the fuck
are we squabbling for?
[Kim] One of the things
Sam said early on,
you know, "I wanna go there
and be innovative."
So, that was
really the approach,
we wanna go next level,
trendsetting,
and just different.
[whispering]
Oh my God, it's perfect.
[Alexa] I grew up
with fashion and beauty,
and Euphoria,
it felt like playtime.
It was just this
beautiful dreamland
of, like,
jewels on your eyes,
wear crazy colors.
Just what are
your biggest fantasies
that you would like
to see on film?
And you're just free to play.
[Rosalia]
It's in our clothes,
our hair, the face,
the creativity is on the front.
And then, I think the music,
it's the center of it all,
it's that freedom
and that... "poof."
[Sam] When writing the pilot,
I was trying to figure out
what the sound
of the show was.
And in my head, I kept hearing
some sort of mixture
of, like, Danny Elfman's
Edward Scissorhands score
mixed with, like,
Kanye's Yeezus.
[dramatic music playing]
When I would talk
to composers about it,
a lot of them seemed like
they had no fucking idea
what I was talking about.
And I went out
to-- to dinner with Lab,
and immediately,
he understood it.
He liked the idea
that I was really
expressive
with my arrangements.
And so he was like,
I think you might have the idea
of how to merge different
genres and styles
in a kind of like
modern way.
I literally started
thinking of ideas
as soon as I spoke to him.
And he like pulls out his phone
and starts to hum something
into his-- into his voice
notes.
Feel the morning
on my face
Ain't a pill
that I didn't take
[Sam] It's that thing
you're always looking for,
is, you know,
you throw out an idea
and then someone takes that
idea and runs with it.
[Labrinth]
He kind of just said,
"Lab, I just want you
to do you."
And so I was writing
before I was in the studio.
I felt like I knew
exactly what he wanted.
[Sam] He sent over music
that he had at the time,
and we just started
breaking it apart,
cutting in just his voice
a cappella.
You're a dead man
[Sam]
These little
choral arrangements
things like that.
You gonna run game,
it don't ever run you
[Sam] And it felt like,
you know, the show
suddenly gained its wings.
Had a kind of an emotional,
kinda heavenly quality to it,
which I think
is a nice juxtaposition to,
you know, darkness that
the show can sometimes have.
[dramatic, electronic
music playing]
In the first two seasons,
in a way, Labrinth's music
sort of spoke
to the mysterious heart
of a teenager.
[dramatic music
continues playing]
Going into season three,
Sam wanted there to be
a musical palette
that could match
the visual palette.
Hans Zimmer has essentially
made a name
for-- in working
on that epic scale.
[Sam] For season three,
I wanted something
that created
a cohesive element
from the beginning
to the end
and evoked sort of an old
Hollywood sensibility,
you know, something
that isn't as fashionable,
but has its own
kind of magic and allure.
[Jason Reitman]
Most television shows,
they don't know what they are
in their infancy.
Yeah, they all know
what's up
Yeah, they all know
what's up
[Jason] Euphoria knew exactly
what it was from moment one.
What, you think 'cause I went
to rehab, I stayed clean?
[Jason] Its color, its design,
the tone of the show,
its ability to be
extraordinarily explicit.
Sam's someone
who has never written
or directed
with any barriers in mind,
and that's a really important
type of storyteller,
because they are
the storytellers
that tell us what is allowed.
They tell us what a movie
or a TV show is capable of.
Let me not go too far
Yo, yo, how 'bout you come
and ride on this dick?
-[Nate laughing]
-Yo, Nate, chill, bro.
Come on, man.
[Casey] You know,
when the show came out,
I definitely got
a lot of worry.
Any time there's hand-wringing,
sometimes a sign
of something good to come.
There should be hand-wringing,
there should be worry,
because it means you're doing
something dangerous or new.
When I wrote a review
for NPR.org,
and I used the phrase,
"Euphoria is a parent's
worst nightmare."
I think people
who watch the show
knew exactly what
I was getting at.
It's the idea
that these teenagers
have sort of this secret life
that the adults in their life
are mostly unaware of,
and it's a life that is filled
with explicit behavior, uh,
that, of course, parents would
hope their kids were not doing.
[Hunter Harris]
A lot of people were saying
it's like romanticizing
or glamorizing drugs,
and alcohol,
and sex, and partying,
and all of this stuff.
-And I'm like...
-Fuck!
...I'm sorry, were we watching
the same show?
[sobbing] I just wanna die!
[Hunter Harris] It makes all
of these things look terrible.
It makes being a teenager
look like a terrible time,
which it honestly is.
You did this to me!
[Sam] There were so many
responses to it.
Parent Television Council
was upset with us.
People from the religious
community upset with us,
from the left, from the right.
Across the board,
there was an enormous amount
-of kind of pushback.
-Get off of me!
[Sam] You kinda go,
we don't create characters
by like, you know, a composite
of every single
Gen Z person in the world.
We're not trying to tell
a story that's representative
of all teenagers.
We're telling it about these
specific, unique characters,
these sort of misfits,
and fuck-ups, and outsiders.
Oh, shit, that's the girl
who tried to commit suicide
-at McKay's.
-[both] Wait, what?
Oh, yeah, I forgot.
You guys both was fucking.
[Dr. Judith Joseph]
Critics and parents who say
that this
is hard to watch,
I-- I can validate
that it is hard to watch.
But it's necessary
to talk about these things.
There used to be this thinking
that, like, if you talk
about substance use,
they're gonna use drugs.
If you talk about sex,
they're gonna have sex.
But we now know that
that's not the case.
Rue, why'd you call me?
I didn't really have
anybody else to call.
[Judith]
When you actually talk
about these issues,
without judgment,
without stigma,
openly, and you're curious,
that actually decreases
risky behavior.
I think the show is bigger than
just its sort of sexual quality.
It is about people
trying to find their voice
and find agency
over their body,
and figuring out what we
all have proclivities towards.
Let me know when you wanna
stop trying to kill yourself.
Sam is an expert provocateur
as a filmmaker.
He is often presenting
the audience
with images that challenge
them.
-Five!
-[Eric] That's one reason
-why people...
-Four!
...respond to Sam so strongly.
Three!
-[Eric] It's so obvious
that Euphoria...
-Two!
-...is a creation of his vision.
-One. Boom!
-[both gasp]
You a cold motherfucker.
[gunshot]
This business, it becomes
personal in a way.
You have to
accept criticism...
-[knocking]
-...as part of the world
you're in.
Are you okay?
You're so fucking stupid, Lexi.
He's dealing with something
that he knows very well.
He's writing the characters
with all of their
vulnerability...
[sobbing] I really need
to come home, Mom.
[Barry Levinson]
...and pushing, you know,
the envelope...
-Bang!
-[actors gasp]
...to that world.
He's never looking for
the shock value of something.
He's looking for the situation
that exposes and embellishes
a character and a behavior
to the darker side
or to the lighter side,
which hadn't been done much
in terms
of high school films
we've seen.
That was the noise
that he made
and the risk
that he wanted to take.
[doctor] All done.
[Barry]
You're never going to appeal
to all the people all the time.
[smacking]
You move past that
and-- and you just get on with
the work of the day.
[multiple reporters]
We have a warning about
a new show pushing...
-It's called Euphoria.
-This is the real deal.
And it's targeted to teens.
Creator Sam Levinson
remained committed
to making an exceptional
third season.
This might not be
the show for you.
[Sam] What was exciting
is all of those responses
sort of fueled
all these other responses.
So, it became this thing
that continued
to generate conversation.
Let's get the fuck outta here.
-Come on.
-[laughing]
[Sam]
As a filmmaker, the only goal
is you wanna tell
a great, entertaining story,
and you want people
to talk about it.
Oh, my fucking God.
-What?
-That's him.
[Sam] Everyone's gonna
have a different opinion.
That's the beauty of it all.
You just want to make sure
you're continuing
to engage
the audience.
[all laughing]
I'm a burden,
and it is what it is.
And it's embarrassing
and it's stupid, but, um,
it's true, so I'm sorry.
[Sam] You know, we were like
a controversial
bad kid kinda show.
And the Emmy goes to...
Zendaya, Euphoria.
[cheering and applause]
[Sam] When Zendaya
won that Emmy,
I mean, it was just like
an explosion of emotion.
All the work,
all the preparation.
[Sam] You know,
I-I remember I was at home
with Ash, my wife.
I mean, we just looked
at each other
and just started crying.
To the incredible cast
and crew of Euphoria,
um, I'm so lucky to go
to work with you every day,
and I'm inspired
by everything you do.
And we both started sobbing
because it was this
beautiful validation.
And Sam realized there's a lot
more story he wanted to tell,
and that was the birth
of season two.
[Zendaya laughing]
[cheering and applause]
[Sam] After season one,
there was a certain momentum
with the show,
and we were eager
to get back to work.
We were a day away from starting
production on season two
when COVID hit
and shut us down.
We wanted to get
everyone working again,
so I talked to HBO.
They said, "Fine,
you can go shoot
an episode for five days."
So, I said, okay, well,
what story can I tell
in five days?
Whatever limitations
or restrictions we had,
as a filmmaker,
you just gotta work around.
We ended up building
these character portraits
of two individuals at sort of
different places
in their lives,
how they see each other,
and how they see themselves.
The first one
that came to mind
was just Ali and Rue
sitting at a diner talking.
I had written like the first,
I think 15 pages.
It was supposed to go
in an episode in season two,
and I just started to run
with the idea
of, well, what if we just
never leave the diner?
D and E, camera mark.
[Sam] Two misfits, in a way,
sitting at a diner,
talking about what addiction
has cost them in their lives.
And action.
Ali, I picked up
a piece of glass.
I pointed it at my mom...
and I told her
I was gonna kill her.
[Sam]
It was a really dark time.
I thought of all the people
who aren't able
to leave their house,
the amount of people
struggling with depression...
addiction...
and those who were in
abusive situations.
I wanted Ali to deal
with some of these things
in a more sort of philosophical
and metaphysical way.
[Ali] Your whole system's
on the verge of collapse,
and the addict in you is trying
to sell you on the same shit
that got you sick
in the first place.
Your only hope is a revolution.
But a real fucking revolution
inside and out.
But you gotta see it through.
[Colman Domingo]
I read it and I--
I started crying.
And I thought, oh,
what he's delivered
is a sermon.
It's a prayer for all of us.
You said you weren't gonna
be here much longer.
Okay, then.
How do you want your mom
and sister to remember you?
That special episode
is not just about addiction.
It really is about
our humanity.
I got faith in you.
[sniffling]
Why?
It is about us having faith,
especially at a time
that we all have questions
and we're all struggling.
-[Zendaya] Good job,
guys, we did it.
-[crew] Wow.
And we're all trying to find
out what the next step is.
Thank you guys
for a great shoot.
It truly felt important.
[Zendaya] See you soon.
[people chattering]
[Sam] Well, there we go. COVID.
At least we know
how to do this once now.
-[Zendaya] See you soon.
-[crew] See you soon.
[Sam] Let's roll camera!
[crew] Yep, speeding.
And... action!
[Sam] Jules' special episode,
you know, I had envisioned
getting kind of a window
into her kind of inner life.
Hunter obviously has a very
unique and interesting story.
You know, I thought if I was
gonna do this-- this episode,
it would be
interesting to sort of,
you know, bring her on
as a collaborator.
We would just sorta talk about
her life and--
and the character,
and tried to find
this sort of poetic
kind of free-form structure
for this episode.
[people chattering]
That was my first experience
really screenwriting.
And I really kind of
fell in love with it.
I was able to sort of channel
a lot of the like, you know,
kind of unique feelings
about like being a trans woman
and how confusing
that can be sometimes.
How the fuck did I spend
my entire life building this?
Like... [sighs]
Like my body, and my
personality, and, like...
my soul around
what I think men desire.
COVID was really hard on me,
and that time brought up a lot.
Were you thinking about
hurting yourself?
[Schafer]
I'd been, you know, struggling
for a good chunk of it,
and was able
to pour a lot of that pain
into the episode.
Sorry, um...
I am glad we did it
because, like,
I know that I would have
fucking loved that episode
as a young trans girl.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I should go.
-[door slams closed]
-[Colman] I was at the gym
and this bro came over to me,
and he said,
"I just wanted to say
I'm such a huge fan of yours,
"and in particular,
that scene you did with Zendaya,
that special episode."
I said, yeah.
He said,
"It means so much for me.
I'm a recovering addict."
And he started to tremble.
He was so emotionally
overwhelmed.
I said, "Come here, come here.
We're gonna hug it out."
He says, "You get gym dudes come
up to you crying all the
time?"
I said, no, but it's okay.
I know the work
that I'm a part of.
[Judith] I think fans
have emotional connections
to these characters because
the characters in themselves
are portrayed
in a very empathic way.
Rue, open the door!
[Judith]
They're not just this
two-dimensional clich.
Rue!
[Judith]
And so, you see Rue as someone
who struggles with addiction,
but she's also playful.
She's silly,
she's loyal, she's lovable.
She's not demonized.
And I think that's why
a lot of people
who have struggles
similar to these characters,
I think that's why
they appreciate it,
because they're not seen
as necessarily all bad.
They're seen in full ways.
I really missed you.
[Sam] You always hope
that whatever you do
is not just gonna
be entertaining,
but it's also gonna be
inspiring in some way.
Thank you to Sam Levinson
for writing a character
like Ali for me.
[Sam] It gave everybody
a real sense of confidence
that what we were doing
was hitting the culture
in a new way.
[Sam] Uh, and just take
two steps back here.
-She kisses you.
-Okay.
I think you're still
disturbed by her.
Okay.
[indistinct chatter, laughter]
[Sam] Most television shows,
the first season,
they push buttons,
and there's nudity,
and there's sex.
And then by season two,
you know, they're a little more
buttoned up,
a little more PC.
And our desire was,
how can we let everyone know...
we didn't grow up?
I'm the bad guy
-Hi.
-Duh
[Sam] Fuck you, we know
what your complaints were.
We don't give a shit.
We're gonna push it
even further.
-[glass breaking]
-[people gasping and shouting]
-[knocking]
-[heavy breathing]
[Hunter Harris]
Prior to season two premiering,
there was so much hype.
What could Euphoria
season two look like?
What direction could it go?
How could it feel?
And would it be able to, like,
recapture the same magic?
So you're a tough guy
And also because so many
of the stars in Euphoria
had become such big stars
in real life...
-That's what's up.
-...there was so much,
um, anticipation.
[fan]
What the fuck?
[Hunter Harris] The premiere,
it crashed the HBO app.
Bitch, you better be joking.
[Hunter Harris]
Season two was crowned
the most social show on TV.
People were so passionate.
Tell her off, Maddy!
Tell her off!
[Hunter Harris]
Sunday night was a night
to watch Euphoria.
Would you like a ride
to this party?
No! Oh, my God, no!
[Hunter Harris]
Immediately when you
get on the internet,
there's like, photos,
videos, memes, tweets.
-Nate Jacobs is her ex.
-Yeah.
The fans were ravenous.
-Oh!
-[fans exclaiming]
Hold on, pause.
Fandom for teen shows,
that's not new.
But, like,
the level of specificity,
the level of time the fans had
to talk about Euphoria online
felt really constant,
and also unique.
Stranger
[Hunter Harris]
There was that TikTok trend,
the "Still Don't Know my Name"
transition.
[Maude] Thousands of people
are making, like, makeup videos
to this song, like, what?
There's somebody on Instagram
that would do Barbie
recreations of scenes.
[Maude]
There's a lot of cool fan art.
Gosh, is my left eye massive
compared to my right eye?
New insecurity unlocked.
For it to have become
a cultural flashpoint,
and then a touchstone.
Bitch, you better be joking.
Things that are joked about
on nighttime shows.
Are you okay?
No! Yes! [Bleep] it.
I'm in love with Nate Jacobs
and he's in love with me.
And don't you [bleep] give me
that look, Maddy!
There's no way I expected that.
[Cal] Your mother's the one
who showed me.
Euphoria was everywhere.
[Cassie] I am crazier!
[Ashley] One of Sam and I's
favorite thing to do
is when we're traveling,
we always take pictures
with the actors'
campaign photos,
and there's always, like,
a sweetness to that,
that they've been embraced
both in film and television,
but also in fashion.
I just can't get you out
of my head, boy, it's...
[Sydney] I noticed the impact
on pop culture
a little bit after season one.
I would go to fashion shows.
They were heavily influenced
by Euphoria.
The lighting, the music,
the makeup.
[Hunter Schafer]
Fashion is one of
the great loves of my life.
Working with designers
that are like gods in my head
is pretty thrilling.
[Colman] Zendaya has been
co-chair of the Met Gala,
and then the following year,
I was the co-chair
of the Met Gala.
I think we both have a sense of
play and understanding style,
and also that's part
of storytelling.
And I think that's what
our-- our costume designers
and our hair and makeup team
does so very well
with Euphoria.
The miracles have begun.
-[laughing]
-[mugs clinking]
-Amen.
-Hallelujah.
It's been incredible to watch
the reaction to Euphoria,
because I think in the same way
that Sam has been inspired
by art, and music,
and architecture, and film,
to see it mirrored back
has been incredibly rewarding.
There's a huge opportunity
to reach
an even bigger audience.
[Sam] How are you
feeling tonight, Coachella?
[cheering and applause]
[Ashley] And for us to have
something tangible
that the audience
can take away
to create a more
cinematic experience,
it's a dream come true.
[Sam] We put our heart and
souls into this season,
and, uh, we're extremely
proud of it.
[Hunter Harris]
The fact that Euphoria,
after years
off the air, can come back
and still be
I think its own
cultural conversation
is kind of crazy.
The only thing I can promise
is wherever you think
this season's going,
it's going a little further.
-Thank you.
-[cheering and applause]
Euphoria is the series
that really meets the zeitgeist
of what's happening
in the world.
What you see on television
directly impacts the way
we see one another.
[Sharon Stone]
Euphoria offers
the generation empathy.
That's what I think
makes it different.
Bye.
Skeletons in the closet
And it offers us
an opportunity to see
why do young people think
and feel this way?
-[laughter]
-[Sharon] And then we're going
inside their rooms,
inside their lives.
And we're viewing it
with care,
and tenderness, and humor.
We're not judging.
We're feeling with them.
And I think that is something
that's very different.
[chuckles]
[Sydney] Sam uses all
the different characters
to be able to tap
into those emotions
and-- and the fears
and the questions
that are being asked.
I think that's kind of
what makes it
so relevant and so powerful.
[Sam] Uh, let's just do
a rehearsal and nail that
and then we'll--
we'll continue on.
And, uh, so we'll take it
from the top here.
Alright, let's give it a shot.
[crew] And action!
[drum roll]
But our life.
Wait, is this fucking play
about us?
[Sam] I honestly believe
that one of the reasons
that this show
found a certain success
across all the seasons
is that even
if you're not a drug addict...
[screaming]
...everyone knows
what addiction feels like.
Euphoria serves everything up
as addiction.
Love is a million things.
Sometimes it feels good,
sometimes it doesn't.
People think that
it's always about drugs.
No, it could be your phone.
It could be certain behaviors.
It could be sex, whatever.
See, I'm not a mess,
but I do love a fight.
[Sam]
Even on a subconscious level,
you understand
being wed to something
that is not making you happy,
that is making you depressed.
She's not good for you,
you're not good for her,
and I will do everything
I can to prevent it.
[whimpering]
[Zendaya] Where I think often
when it comes to addiction,
we forget that that person
is a human,
and that person feels
and goes through things,
and there's a reason
why they are the way they are.
The show overall
I think allows us
to have a little bit
more empathy for people
and understanding for people.
Sam does a beautiful job
in showing, like,
this is not easy.
Leslie's pain comes
from a real place.
-Don't you fucking touch her!
-[smacking]
Because he-- he knows
what it's like.
-[Jules] I love you.
-No, the fuck you don't.
You love being loved.
[Sam] You know, there were
definitely a lot of things
that-- that I drew on
from my own life
or own experiences.
My body is a cage
[Sam]
I do know what it's like
to be institutionalized
as-- as a kid.
You know, to be on medication
when you're young.
I wanted to show the loneliness
and the kind of darkness
of being an addict...
-[whispering] It's okay, Rue.
-[Rue shuddering]
[Sam]
...and be able to separate
who they are
and their actions...
from who they may wanna be.
My body is a cage
That keeps me from dancing
With the one I love
I'm extremely proud of what
we accomplished on season two,
and I think we really did
reach new heights
in terms of the show.
I just wanna say thank you
to everyone who has shared
their story with me.
I want you to know
that anyone who has loved a Rue
or, um, feels like
they are a Rue,
I want you to know that I'm
so grateful for your stories,
and I carry them with me,
and I carry them with her.
-So, thank you so much.
-[cheering and applause]
[Sam]
Season two was a success,
but it was never exactly
what I wanted it to be.
And I don't say that in like
a-- a regretful way, it's...
[clicking tongue]
You know, it, uh,
it was-- it was a tough one.
Yo, man, I don't know
what's been going on
with you, Rue,
and Jules and shit...
but you should know
I really do care about her.
[Sam]
I had written the scripts
for all eight episodes,
and Angus was really
struggling, um, with
addiction.
He had that head injury
and he would get
these migraines,
and it would inevitably
lead him back to doing drugs,
taking pills,
that kind of stuff.
And so, it was--
it was really tough.
And I have a lot of empathy
for-- for people
who are going through
addiction.
I heard you got raided.
But they ain't find
nothin' though.
[Sam]
You know, the other thing is...
the character of Fezco
was supposed to die
at the end of season one.
So, we all good?
[Sam] And...
I just-- I loved Angus...
so much.
And I always worried that
if I killed the character...
he wouldn't have anything
to look forward to.
So, season one, okay,
you know, I kept him alive.
-Don't move!
-Hands up!
Drop the knife now!
[Sam] Season two, you know,
he's gotta die at the end,
-and it was this whole thing.
-Please, don't shoot!
I gave him the pages
and it was like...
this cloud that was--
it was sort of hovering
over him.
Like two hours later,
I was like,
"Alright, fuck it, Angus,
I can't do it."
Fezco lives.
He said, "Well, what are you
gonna do?"
I said,
"Well, I'm gonna kill Ashtray."
He's like, "Damn, that's dark,"
you know? [chuckles]
[reporter] TMZ is reporting
that Angus Cloud,
the actor made famous
on the HBO show Euphoria,
has died.
[somber music playing]
[Eric Dane]
We lost a cast member.
We lost a very talented
young man, Angus Cloud.
That was tough on all of us.
It's Euphoria. Yeah.
[Maude]
Getting to work with Angus
was like one of the great
privileges of my life.
I got something
in my fucking eye.
[laughing]
...is dark
-[both chuckle]
-And the moon
[Fezco singing along]
Is the only
He was such
a special person,
and so kind,
and so, like, grounding...
in the group.
["Stand By Me"
continues playing]
Like, the night
that it happened,
we all had each other
and called each other,
and that was, like, everything.
Just as long as you stand
Stand by me
[both singing]
Darling, darling
Stand by me
Oh, stand by me
[Sam] Part of the reason that,
that I made this season is...
is for Angus.
[sniffling]
[Angus]
Best part of my life?
Just the love that I have
to give and to receive,
you know what I'm saying?
Everywhere.
You know, surrounded by it.
[crew] We're finishing
our dirt redress.
[Sam] Season three
is about fentanyl...
and how many people's...
lives, um...
a-are being taken by it.
It's about salvation...
and the sort of moral choices
we make.
And... action!
It's about redemption,
but not just in
a theoretical or academic way,
but in a...
but in a real way.
-Great, great work.
-[crew] Here we go.
-Right away. And...
-[Sam] Go again.
[Sam] Whatever mistakes
and things
you've made in your life
leading up to now
doesn't define who you can be
if you decide to change.
-[Rue inhales sharply]
-[Bishop] If I were you,
I'd stay real still.
[Sam]
And we're sort of building
to the end of the story.
That's also
what's exciting about it.
-[gunshot]
-[gasps]
-[gunshot echoing]
-Ooh! Ooh!
[laughing]
Whoo! [laughing continues]
[gentle music playing]
[Sam]
I think what was most exciting
was going back to the set...
to work with this incredible
cast of-- of actors.
[Maude] The wedding scene,
it was really emotional.
Like, I remember
I was walking down the aisle
and got to the front,
and, like, looked down
and saw, like,
everyone in the cast.
We just are sort of connected
in a very deep way and have
been through a lot together.
[applause]
I'm so, like, happy
for everyone's success.
Everyone is doing so well
and getting to do what
they've always wanted to do.
Yeah. Right?
[Sam] To hear filmmakers
and directors,
you know, who I idolize,
talk about how great they are,
is just fucking amazing.
And to see the hard work
and the creativity pay off
in-- in such a big way
is-- is exciting.
[Ashley] We've really always
had each other's backs
and-- and we support each other
and we root for each other.
Serious face?
I think someone
has to take it of us.
Eric had called Sam
right before we were shooting
and he had
shared his diagnoses.
[Sam] He told me that he had
been diagnosed with ALS.
You know, I said to him
I loved him
and, uh, I would take him
in whatever way
he wanted to show up.
And action.
I feel loved,
mostly by my scotch.
Oh.
[Ashley] Eric is such
a talented actor, um,
and so great with comedy.
Now, yell out for the waiter!
Waiter!
-Hey, waiter!
-[Sam] Round three!
-[Eric] Round three!
-Ooh! Yeah.
He was just brilliant.
It was a pretty
humbling thing to witness.
-[Sam] Action!
-[Eric] Alright.
I'm gonna keep drinking.
You keep drinking.
-Nate, I love you.
-[applause]
[Eric] Working on this show
has been the most profound
experience of my career.
We could live
I "Juana"
make love to you, girl!
For a thousand years
It was, you know,
at times, challenging.
Huh?!
But the challenges
were taken as opportunities.
Do you mind if I just leave?
It's been just such
a wonderful experience.
[Sam] He gave an incredible
fucking performance
across all the seasons.
You are a part of me...
I will never understand.
[Sam] He showed up
every day with grace
and dignity, and excited
to do the work.
He was a wonderful human being.
He was a wonderful actor.
I'll see you assholes later.
["Never Tear Us Apart"
continues, ends]
[door closes]
-[people chattering]
-Lexi.
[crew] I don't think we need
a ten-piece on Lexi.
Bitch one. My bitch two.
-Oh, my God. Rude!
-My bitch three.
Get off my bed!
[Sam]
We've been through so much.
We've had so many ups
and downs,
and you really get to know
who these people are
on the inside.
It's an incredibly
beautiful experience.
You know, we've always had
an extraordinarily gifted cast.
And I've known these actors
since back when
they were just dreamers,
when they dreamed
of having a career.
-You guys, thank you so much!
-Yeah, thank you, guys!
[Sydney]
I grew up with Euphoria.
I did the pilot when I was 20.
As an actor, it's made me
push myself further
to be confident,
to take risks and be okay
with laughing at yourself
if it doesn't work out,
and know that everybody's there
to support each other.
It's been the show
of a lifetime.
[cheering and applause]
[Sam] Alright, everyone,
that's a wrap
for Hunter Schafer.
[cheering and applause]
[Hunter Schafer]
Personally, I'm thankful
for the way the show
has taught me
how to act and write.
I think, like, that I want to
be as beautiful as the ocean.
But I don't think
I would be an actor
if things had not gone
exactly the way they had
with this show.
[Sam] That is a wrap.
[cheering and applause]
It's been such an honor
to work with all of you.
Working on the show
was the formative experience
of my young life.
It's given me
so many opportunities,
and I've met so many people
that I hope I know
for the rest of my life.
Hi, babe! You look so good.
[Sam] And action.
[Jacob] All I've ever wanted
to do is act.
Personally, this show
has been an instrumental part
of not just my career,
but my life.
To realize you've, like,
grown up in front of a camera...
sort of in these characters,
it's a really sort
of beautiful thing.
Everything I ever said was
true.
People love it in every country,
regardless of color or creed.
[fan] Jacob!
[Jacob]
When you make a piece of art
and it moves people
or they feel something
through a scene that you did,
I mean,
that's the ultimate
pat on the back.
Oh, no, I'm gonna cry.
I feel incredibly grateful to
have been a part of this series.
It's like such a beautiful,
lucky feeling
to create something
that touches people
in any way.
Thank you all so much!
["Thank yous" and applause]
[Sam] I can't thank you enough
for your talent,
for your work ethic,
for your creativity.
And this show would not be
a shell of what it is
without you guys.
Looking back on the show,
I'm incredibly proud
of what we accomplished.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
[Sam] It's important
to take the darkness
that you go through in life
and try to give it life.
Wish you,
wish you could move
In terms of my own life
and my own experiences,
you know, I think taking the
sort of struggles of addiction
and turning it
into a television show
that's entertaining
is my own way
of trying to take what's dark
and give it
a little bit of light.
[Rue gasping]
[Sam] People are gonna
have different opinions
about what the ending
of Euphoria means.
Is she dying?
Oh, my fucking God!
Rue is gone.
I've never cried so much.
Wow.
[Sam]
I know what it means to me.
-Amen.
-[Ali sighs]
[Sam] We're just a small part
of a much larger story.
Amen.
[Sam]
And a really beautiful one.
I feel very blessed
and-- and grateful
to have spent, you know,
almost the last ten years
doing what I love to do
and being able to do it
with people that I love.
We had a great time.
The cast, the crew,
you know, the fans.
The show wouldn't have been
what it was
without you guys,
and I mean that.
So, from the bottom
of my heart...
thank you.
-[cheering and applause]
-That's a wrap.
Can't thank you enough.
Still don't know my name
You still don't know
my name
And I would die
your slave
Baby, right now
But you still
don't know my name
Yeah
Oh, no-no,
no-no-no, no-no
Oh, no-no,
no-no-no, no-no
[singer vocalizing]
Yeah
Oh, no-no,
no-no-no, no-no
[singer continues vocalizing]