Zendaya said it has been “such a pleasure and an honour” to star in Euphoria as teenage drug addict Rue Bennett as she bids farewell to the hit show.
The series finale, which was 93 minutes long, saw her character meet her untimely end after an accidental overdose having taken a pain relief pill laced with a fatal dose of fentanyl.
The Hollywood actress has played the teenage drug addict since the first series of the HBO show in 2019, and as she said goodbye to the role, she praised the cast and crew who “watched me grow up”.
Appearing in an HBO video going behind the scenes of the episode, the 29-year-old was seen marking the occasion with a four-tier cake, and told the production team: “I’m so grateful for every single one of you.
“Many of you have been here from the beginning and watched me grow up, but it’s been such a pleasure and an honour. Thank you so much.”
The video also featured the moment the star wrapped filming, celebrating with a glass of “apple cider” alongside her co-star Hunter Schafer – who played her character’s on-off romantic partner Jules Vaughn.
Actress and model Schafer reflected on the past seven years working on Euphoria alongside Zendaya, and said: “I feel so lucky my first major scene partner ended up being a soul mate.
“Z is somebody that I’m going to be talking to when I’m old. I love her to the moon and back.”
Sam Levinson, the creator of the show, said he wanted her story to end this way to highlight the reality of addiction and to honour the late Angus Cloud, who played drug dealer Fezco O’Neill in the show and died from an accidental overdose in 2023, aged 25.
Levinson said: “People relapse, they f*** up, they’re not ready to get clean.
“They weren’t dying like they are now with the influx of fentanyl into this country (the US).”
The showrunner, who has been outspoken about his past experiences with drugs and addiction, said: “I can say with absolute certainty that if I was going through what I went through when I was younger now, then I wouldn’t be here either.
“There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. I wanted to tell this story for Angus, and for the people who weren’t granted a second chance.”
Other members of the cast in the video include Sydney Sweeney, who stars as adult content creator Cassie Howard, and said she “broke down” when she read her character’s ending.
The episode saw her character move back into the home she once shared with her husband Nate Jacobs, played by Jacob Elordi, shortly after his death in last week’s episode where he was fatally bitten by a rattlesnake.
The behind-the-scenes video also featured clips of stars including Alexa Demie, Maude Apatow and Nika King as it recapped the action-packed series finale.
Euphoria made superstars out of Zendaya, Elordi and Sweeney, and all three returned for the third series, which followed a four-year hiatus and is set five years after the events of the second season.
