Sam Levinson's Euphoria is a boundary-breaking HBO series that has gripped audiences since
its premiere in 2019. The ending of the season was as gripping as its start, but Levinson
intentionally left many aspects of the characters' stories unanswered. Here is the ending of
Euphoria explained.
The heartbeat of Euphoria Season 1 was Rue and Jules' relationship, which tugged on every
emotional chord. Viewers followed both characters working through their traumas while kindling
a compelling romance.
Jules, played by Hunter Schafer, unintentionally becomes the center of Rue's sobriety while
also coming to terms with her own demons following a traumatic childhood.
With the threats of conflicted villain Nate Jacobs looming over Jules, she begins to yearn
for her old life in the city.
In Euphoria's Season 1 finale, the winter formal brought the characters under one roof,
where Rue tosses out the idea of running away to the city with Jules.
While the pair leave the dance and head to the train station, Rue begins to second-guess
her impulsive decision.
Ultimately, Rue decides to let Jules go, choosing to stay behind and leaving viewers questioning
if this is the end for the duo.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Schafer shared her point of view on the scene,
describing the moment as the first time viewers see Rue making a decision with her sister
and her mom in mind. That choice leaves the future of the pair unclear.
Euphoria's resident drug dealer, Fezco, became a fan favorite of the show despite being a
man of a few words. Fez was Rue's dealer at the start of the season, but he quickly changed
his tune once Rue's addiction began to deepen.
From surviving a drug bust to saving Rue from spine-chilling drug lord Mouse, Fez has been
in some precarious situations, though none as tense and jaw-dropping as his final scene
in Euphoria's Season 1 finale.
After pulling off a high-risk robbery from a doctor, Fez races to meet Mouse and pay
off a massive debt. The ending scene shows Fez anxiously awaiting for Mouse's crew to
count the stolen bills. The count gets interrupted when blood is found on one of the bills, leaving
Fez facing Mouse holding a gun.
The scene ends on a terrifying cliffhanger, leaving viewers stunned and wondering if Mouse
will accept the stolen cash or if this will be the end for Fezco.
Euphoria creator Sam Levinson gave insight into the likelihood that Fez will see another
day, telling The Hollywood Reporter,
"His story didn't belong in season one, it belongs in season two — and that's something
that I knew pretty early on."
Rue's battle with addiction saw her go through manic and depressive states, relapses, and
anger outbursts, especially when Fez refused to sell her more drugs.
Euphoria's heartbreaking portrayal of addiction saw Rue choose sobriety, even if it was to
keep Jules in her life. But with the weight of her father's death on her shoulders, combined
with anxiety and possible bipolar depression, Rue ultimately relapses one more time after
she lets Jules leave without her at the train station.
But instead of seeing Rue in her darkest hour as one would expect, Levinson chose to create
a musical number depicting Rue's fall into drugs as she stumbles violently around her
home and into the street while mouthing the words to the Labrinth song "All For Us."
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Levinson explained his decision, saying,
"It felt like in some ways seeing her relapse felt dark to me in a way that doesn't fully
encapsulate the cycle and the madness of addiction — how you're thrown back into it and thrown
out of it and it's dizzying and at times beautiful but also really f---ing terrifying."
Levinson also said that he saw the scene as an encapsulation of the guilt, temptation
and shame of addiction that all exist inside Rue at the same time, and that it just felt
right to score the sequence to that song.
Euphoria's Maddy and Nate are the furthest thing from a quintessential high school relationship.
Their toxic relationship unfolded throughout the first season, starting with Maddy, who's
17, having sex in the pool with 22-year old Tyler in front of everyone at a house party.
This leads to Nate's abusive behavior coming to light as the on-again, off-again duo begin
to unravel when Nate begins to take his aggression out on Maddy.
Fans of the show interpret their final exchange at their winter formal as a possible ending
to their relationship, as Maddy acknowledged Nate's abusive past, saying the two shouldn't
be together, to which Nate responded with, "I know."
According to Jacob Elordi, who plays Nate, the final scene carried a lot of weight. He
told Entertainment Weekly,
"The way that I looked at the scene was, it was a really difficult goodbye. Because right
after his breakdown, he tried to… had a moment of clarity and she definitely had a
moment of clarity after everything they put each other through."
Nate Jacobs' inner turmoil is almost a character in itself, as it seems to inform pretty much
all of his violent actions in Euphoria Season 1.
Much of this stems from his conflict with his own sexuality, which comes out when he
meets Jules, who is a transgender woman. While their interactions were left mostly ambiguous,
Nate did catfish Jules as a way to keep her from spilling the truth about his father's
sexual history, but he also kisses her, further complicating their relationship.
In the finale, Nate has a breakdown which encapsulates the fight within himself about
coming to terms with his own sexuality. At the winter formal, Rue confronts Nate in order
to get him to leave Jules alone. However, viewers are left to suspect that this is not
the end for Nate's fascination with Jules.
Hunter Schafer, who plays Jules, told Entertainment Weekly,
"I think Nate probably has feelings, like little tinges of feelings that sometimes we've
seen him let out but quickly met with self-suppression and killing that feeling, which is sort of
internalized in a violent form."
The last time viewers see Rue and Jules together in the finale is when Rue watches the train
leave from the platform after she decides not to follow Jules to the city.
Even though it was Rue's initial decision to run away with Jules at their winter formal,
she quickly begins falling into a pool of doubt, questioning how it would affect circumstances
in her life. And since Rue's anchor in sobriety was Jules, it's safe to say this was a complex
decision that sent Rue into a downward spiral, leading viewers to wonder why she didn't leave
with Jules.
In an interview with HBO, Levinson broke down Rue's decision, saying,
"At the end of the day, Rue is impulsive. She recognizes a restlessness in Jules, and
she wants to appeal to it. She says they should leave town because it felt right in the moment."
He then explained how her newfound sobriety awakened an acknowledgement within Rue of
her actions having consequences and that she begins to think of how her leaving will affect
her sister. The thought of her sister waking up and not knowing where Rue has gone is just
too much for her to bear.
It is revealed early on that Rue's troubled past stems from her father's sickness and
eventual death, which sent her into a dark spiral.
She is seen throughout Euphoria's first season wearing a red hoodie. It's only during the
emotional reveal in the finale that explains what meaning that piece of clothing has to
Rue.
Before Rue relapses and a musical number ensues, viewers finally see a glimpse of her father's
final days from Rue's point of view, leading up to his death. Audiences then see Rue walking
into the room where her father used to be and grabbing the red hoodie he left behind.
The symbolic red hoodie carries an emotional weight which Levinson explained to The Hollywood
Reporter, saying,
"As we were shooting it, the slug line is, 'Rue's father is wheeled out of the bedroom
on a stretcher,' and there was this moment where I realized that she should walk in and
find that sweatshirt."
He said the scene unfolded in a natural way as Zendaya, who plays Rue, was given creative
freedom in the moment. Levinson also added, quote, "The way that Z holds it to her face
and smells it just killed me."
Nate Jacobs is Euphoria's most tumultuous and violent character, but he's also given
emotional depth that shows a powerful inner conflict when it comes to him understanding
his sexuality.
It is shown through the first season how much of his anger and suppressed emotions stem
from his father, who also has a largely suppressed sexuality as well. Early on, it is revealed
that Nate's dad has a string of sexual partners, men and women alike, including underaged Jules.
While Nate discovers his father's sexual history as a child, the unspoken tension between the
two leads to a blowout fight in the season finale — a fight which Elordi said gave
him a real-life concussion.
Creator Sam Levinson spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the emotionally charged scene,
saying,
"After seeing everything we know about the character, to see it all distilled in that
one moment says everything it needed to say. But it was a physical and gut-wrenching scene
to shoot."
Perhaps the only positive ending the Euphoria season 1 finale saw was with resident dom
Kat, who had a journey from being the virginal overweight friend to fully exploring all parts
of her sexuality.
Kat began to explore a life online as she became a camgirl with the alt persona "KittyKween,"
while also balancing her sexual awakening off camera as well. While she had a slew of
"hookups," Ethan became the one with whom she developed a meaningful relationship. Although
they had bumps along the way, the finale saw the pair reconcile at the winter formal.
After months of running away from the one guy who wanted to pursue something deeper
with Kat, the two rekindled their budding romance in a heartfelt scene.
Barbie Ferreira, who plays Kat, opened up about the character's progression to Out,
saying,
"I think that just seeing her journey, I just want her to not necessarily continue the way
she is, but find a balance in that."
Although there is the looming force of Kat's camgirl session with an anonymous man, viewers
can for now still hold onto the only stable relationship in the show.
Popular girl Cassie, played by Sydney Sweeney, blew apart the stereotypical tropes to depict
a dark narrative that saw her character fully explored.
Cassie has been taken advantage of by many partners, with many of them filming their
sexual encounters, and has garnered a reputation around school. Even though the beginning of
the series shows Cassie seemingly fine with the gossip, she quickly unravels, revealing
a deeply hurt character. Her father left and has had his own battles with drugs, and Cassie
has an alcoholic mother who never seems to be fully present.
Cassie kindles a romance with football player McKay, and the two seem to have a stable relationship
until things break down when McKay starts questioning his future in football and, more
dramatically, when Cassie finds out she is pregnant.
This leads to the raw depiction of Cassie's abortion in the Season 1 finale. Sweeney told
Entertainment Tonight,
"I think Cassie's headspace when she was in the abortion clinic was this is what she's
having to do. It's not initially something she wanted to do."
She further explained how ultimately Cassie doesn't want her child to grow up without
a father, which could have been possible given McKay's reaction to the pregnancy.
Chris McKay began the show as a nice guy and ally for Cassie as he pursued a meaningful
relationship with her, but his own demons began to unfold as he struggled with other
people's perception of her. In addition, McKay experienced a traumatic assault from his fraternity
in front of Cassie that left him in a vulnerable position. While the pair were not seen officially
breaking up, the season finale showed Cassie at the winter formal alone, saying to her
friends that she was finally not in love with any guy for the first time in her life.
But viewers are wondering why McKay was left out of the finale all together. Algee Smith,
who plays McKay, told TooFab,
"He has a lot on his plate and [the pregnancy is] just a lot of extra weight, but it's a
blessing at the same time, so he's confused. So we just kinda got [to] see where they pick
back up."
He also spoke on his absence from the finale, saying that he was kind of disappointed not
to be included in the dramatic final episode, but that he understood why it went down that
way.
"It all goes with the story though, so it makes sense. So, I know, it hurt a little
bit, but my castmates freakin' killed it, and they did their thing.
The Season 1 finale of Euphoria left many unanswered questions and a slew of fan theories
of what will happen in Season 2. From the fate of Rue and Jules to the creepy mystery
man behind Kat's camgirl session, loose threads were sprinkled throughout the entirety of
the final episode. But one thread in particular is driving fans wild: a scene that shows Maddy,
Nate's girlfriend, just finishing watching what is presumably one of Nate's father's
DVDs, which contain his filmed sexual encounters.
Earlier, Maddy was seen taking a DVD from Nate's bedroom, which viewers are led to believe
holds the footage of Jules — who's only 17 — and Cal's encounter at the beginning
of the season.
While it's also possible the footage holds a different encounter, more likely than not,
Maddy has stumbled upon incriminating footage. The giant unanswered question is what she
will do with the footage, especially since Nate and Maddy have seemingly ended their
tumultuous relationship. There's also the question of why Nate held onto the footage
in the first place. While this is one of the more nerve-wracking cliffhangers, viewers
can be assured whatever will happen with the footage will be answered in Season 2.
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