The show's finale episode, titled "In God We Trust," aired on HBO on Sunday, May 31

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Euphoria's season 3 finale, now streaming on HBO Max.

NEED TO KNOW

• Euphoria aired its season 3 finale on HBO Sunday, May 31, with many shocking twists
• Previously, star Zendaya has teased that this will be her final season on the show, promising “closure is coming”
• Creator Sam Levinson has said he writes every season as if it’ll be the show’s last

Euphoria season 3 came to a fittingly shocking — and heartbreaking — conclusion.

The finale episode, titled "In God We Trust," aired on HBO on Sunday, May 31, and featured several major deaths, including Zendaya's Rue Bennett, who overdoses on laced painkillers given to her by Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).

"It just felt like the honest ending," creator Sam Levinson says in the post-episode behind-the-scenes breakdown. "The honest ending is that people like Rue don't make it."

"People relapse. They f— up. They're not ready to get clean. And they weren't dying like they are now, with the influx of fentanyl into this country," says Levinson, 41. "I can say with absolute certainly that if I was going through what I went through when I was younger now, I wouldn't be here either. There's no reason to sugarcoat it. I wanted to tell this story for Angus [Cloud] and for people who weren't granted a second chance."

Cloud, who played Fez in the show, died of an accidental overdose on July 31, 2023, at age 25. Cloud, whose character is still alive in season 3, is briefly shown onscreen in the finale during a sequence in which Rue thinks he has escaped prison and she's going to reunite with him.

Laurie, the monotoned drug dealer to whom Rue was once indebted, also doesn't survive the finale. When the D.E.A. closes in on her and her crew, Laurie says, "I can't go to prison," and instead opts to hang herself from the roof of their home.

"When I found out that Laurie commits suicide, it hit me really hard," says actress Martha Kelly, who joined the cast in season 2. "It's disturbing. But I was also kind of excited to get to do part of the stunt. I never do anything dangerous. I'm not Tom Cruise, but I love doing stunts."

"This is a special experience that I'm never going to forget," says Kelly in the post-episode breakdown. "It was really fun."

Ali, Rue's sponsor and mentor played by Colman Domingo, is the one to find Rue dead on his sofa. To get revenge, he goes to find Alamo at his strip club, ultimately killing Alamo in a shootout.

Domingo, 56, warned fans about the finale in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: "It’s going to smack people in the face."

"You don’t see it coming," he said, "but the groundwork has been laid. It’s been laid for seasons. The characters are all at such a heightened state right now. I’ll just say: It can only go one way."

Last week's penultimate episode saw another major character death: Jacob Elordi's Nate Jacobs, who was bittne by a snake after being left to die buried inside a wooden coffin.

In the finale, his bride and OnlyFans breakout star Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) is last shown sitting teary-eyed in their mansion all alone, just her and her ring light. "I broke down when I read Cassie's ending," Sweeney, 28, says in the post-episode featurette.

While on The Drew Barrymore Show in April, Zendaya said "I think so" when asked if season 3 will be the last of Euphoria. At the time, she teased that “closure is coming" for fans who've rooted for Rue since it debuted in 2019.

Zendaya, 29, has made Emmy Awards history with her two Best Actress wins for playing Rue. She told Barrymore that the show and the role "cracked my heart open."

“Rue taught me so much about life. I mean, that crew also has seen me grow up. I owe so much to that show," she said. “Rue taught me so much about empathy and about redemption. She taught me a lot, and I'm very grateful for all of it.”

Levinson has been cryptic about whether this is truly the end of Euphoria. He told The New York Times in April, "I write every season like it’s the last. If inspiration strikes and I have an idea, then I’ll talk to HBO. If it makes sense, it makes sense. But it’s such a long shoot and we put so much into it, from every department — costumes, production design, editorial, cinematography. We just want to get this season right. So if this is it, great. If there’s more…."

Euphoria is now streaming on HBO Max.

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