[This story contains spoilers from Euphoria season three, episode seven.]
Sunday evening’s penultimate episode of Euphoria season three revealed a brutal demise for certainly one of its essential castmembers.
After having his marriage ceremony evening ruined, a finger and toe lower off and being buried alive, Jacob Elordi‘s Nate Jacobs faced his fate when a venomous rattlesnake slithered its way into the hole he was buried in and bit him. All of this was the result of Nate’s enterprise association with Naz (Jack Topalian), which left him in debt. Naz later went to Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and stated she had 72 hours to ship the cash Nate owed him. Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) then killed Naz to assist Cassie and Maddie (Alexa Demie) free Nate, however when the coffin he was buried in will get dug up, his lifeless physique is revealed.
In an unique interview with Esquire, the creator of the hit HBO series, Sam Levinson, unpacked what went into killing off Nate, a essential character of the collection for the reason that present’s debut in 2019 who was identified for being controlling and abusive.
“There’s this kind of funny thing where I know what the audience wants in terms of justice or karma and with that in mind, I always think, ‘Well, how can I give it to them?’” Levinson advised the publication. “How can I give them what they want, but make it so horrific and anxiety-inducing that by the time it happens, the audience isn’t so sure they wanted it?”
The article goes on to report that Levinson “knew from the get-go that Nate was finished this season.” Nate, who endured grief, trauma and violence all through the primary two seasons, confirmed glimpses of humanity in season three as a result of Levinson “muddied the moral waters.” The outlet notes that the shift was a setup for what unfolded in episode seven, “Rain or Shine.”
“It’s like, ‘Oh, you wanted him to get his comeuppance…? OK. That feeling of complicity with the audience is always an interesting note to play inside of this sort of larger structure,” Levinson said. “You end up going, ‘Oh God, I don’t know. Ought to he have had it higher? Did he deserve it?’ These sorts of questions are all the time thrilling to pose to the viewers.”
He continued, “It was what was exciting about the characters being out of high school. They’re in the real world and the consequences are real. There’s no safety net. I like this Wild West, frontier aspect to it where you can make something of yourself, but you’re going to have to live with the consequences.”
Levinson revealed that his unique concept was for Nate to die from suffocation or warmth whereas buried alive.
“I always loved the movie The Candy Snatchers where the girl gets buried alive with a pipe as an air hole. So I had imagined that Nate would get buried alive,” he stated.
Nonetheless, he defined that he modified his thoughts about the right way to kill Nate at some point whereas driving to work together with his spouse, Ashley Levinson.
“It was one of those gorgeous L.A. days where it was perfect weather. We’re listening to Otis Redding. The windows are down and we’re driving to Warner Brothers and I’m looking out the window,” Levinson stated. “I just had this image of a rattlesnake coming towards this pipe. He’s banging and the snake can sense the movement in the ground. And I thought, ‘What if the snake goes into the pipe and then he’s stuck inside the coffin with this rattlesnake?’”
He added, “It’s sort of a funny moment where you realize that not all dark scenes come from a dark place. I turned to Ash and I said, ‘I think I got it.’ And I explained how Nate dies in this sequence. She goes, ‘That’s what you’ve been thinking about?’”
Following the episode’s premiere, Elordi stated in an HBO post-show section that it was a “cool way to go” and “quite peaceful” filming contained in the coffin. He additionally shared what it was like working with an actual snake for the scene.
“They had a boa constrictor that they put a fake rattler on the end of, and Sam was like, ‘We’re just gonna drop a snake on you,’” Elordi stated. “The snakes were rattling, which is really alarming when you’re locked in a box.”
However the Wuthering Heights star went on to name the snake “super cute.”
“He was real cuddly, so he just saddled up next to me and it was nice,” he stated. “But he was real sleepy. I had to kind of nudge him to get him to come up.”
Total, Elordi was happy with how his character was despatched off.
“Nate was someone who has made so many mistakes and made so many dark choices. It’s cool to see it all come to what it’s come to. This show is a massive part of, not just my career, but my life. It’s been amazing, and I’m so proud, being a part of this.”
Euphoria season three finale premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO. Try all of The Hollywood Reporter’s coverage here.
