'Euphoria' Just Aired Its Series Finale & Some Stars Didn't Make It

Euphoria ends its run after 7 years, with creator Sam Levinson confirming the series finale.
Rue, the show's protagonist, dies of a fentanyl overdose, reflecting the brutal reality of addiction.
The finale features pivotal moments, including Ali's confrontation with Rue's dealer and the continued struggles of other characters.

Zendaya Episodic stills from 'Euphoria' season 2 episode 8 — Source: Eddy Chen / HBO

After seven years, three seasons and twenty-six episodes, Euphoria is done. Last night, HBO officially closed the book on one of the most talked about, most debated and most visually stunning television dramas of its generation. And the way it ended is going to have the internet processing for a very long time.

As Variety confirmed, Euphoria creator Sam Levinson made the announcement on the New York Times’ Popcast that the Season 3 finale titled “In God We Trust” was, in fact, the series finale — with HBO officially confirming the news to Variety. What viewers thought was just a season closer was actually a goodbye to the entire world Levinson spent seven years building. And if you were not prepared for that going in last night, the final hour and a half of television you just watched was a lot to sit with.

Spoiler alert if you have not finished the season. While the news does not come as a complete surprise because Zendaya made mention of it in past interviews, it’s still the reveal no Euphoria fan was quite prepared for. The actress believed the show would end after Season 3, and a full four years passed between Seasons 2 and 3 as she and several of her co-stars became full-fledged celebrities with schedules packed with blockbuster films. Levinson himself told the New York Times before the season premiered that he writes every season like it is the last and hesitated when pressed about a fourth season, saying, “I don’t know. As of right now, all I want to do is hang out with my wife and kids and read some Elmore Leonard.”

Now for the real spoilers, and yes, they are significant.

Halfway through the finale, after learning that Rue had been working with the DEA — which was revealed by Maddy in the previous episode — Alamo was prompted to kill her. Rue’s boss — played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje — gave her painkillers that were laced with fentanyl and she overdosed. Rue had a hallucination of her mother and then found herself in her father’s arms before we see her lying on Ali’s couch with headphones in, crying. Ali came into the room in the morning and found her dead. It was quiet. It was devastating. And it was exactly the kind of ending that will stay with you forever.

Rue dies after taking fentanyl that Alamo gave her, telling her it was for the pain. The show that spent its entire run showing us the brutal reality of addiction gave its lead character the ending that reality so often delivers. No dramatic last-minute rescue. No redemption arc with a bow on it. Just a young woman who never fully escaped the thing that had been chasing her since she was fourteen years old.

After Rue’s death, Ali must avenge her. Ali confronts Alamo at his bar in a sequence that ends with Alamo being betrayed by Bishop — who swapped his gun for an empty one — allowing Ali to shoot Alamo three times. Colman Domingo — who has been one of the quiet anchors of this entire season — delivered the kind of performance in this finale that reminds you why he has a shelf full of awards and a career that is nowhere close to slowing down.

As for everyone else, Jules appears in only one scene with no dialogue and she and Rue do not share a final moment together. Lexi grapples with losing Rue to drugs, and Cassie continues down her own path without confronting the full truth of what happened to Nate. Earlier in the season, Jacob Elordi’s Nate Jacobs had already died after being bitten by a rattlesnake while buried underground —making the finale the second major death of the season.

Zendaya said it best when she told The Drew Barrymore Show earlier this year, “Euphoria cracked my heart open. Rue taught me so much about life. That crew has also seen me grow up. I owe so much to that show. Rue taught me so much about empathy and about redemption.”

Euphoria followed a group of high school students navigating drugs, sex, identity, trauma, social media, love and friendship. In Season 3 — after a time jump — they wrestled with faith, the possibility of redemption and the problem of evil. The show answered every one of those questions in its own brutal, beautiful and completely uncompromising way.

Euphoria is over. Roll credits.