Recommendations of the Editorial team
“Euphoria” concluded its blockbuster three-season story last night with a finale, i.ehat left many fans devastated – and left some rather cold. (Spoilers follow, of course.)
The last episode, “In God We Trust,” ran for around an hour and a half – but the crucial moment came about halfway through: Rue, the series’ main character, played by Zendaya, dies of an overdose. In a sense, Rue’s fate had long been sealed – by her own demons and her threatening situation between DEA agents and crime boss Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).
Of course, that didn’t make the character’s death any easier to digest. “Yes, that ending completely broke me,” one fan wrote – referring to the scene where Rue hallucinates and sees her mother again shortly before her death.
Zendaya’s best moment
“Say what you will about this series, but Zendaya just pulled off the best series death ever,” said another fan.
In the same dream sequence, Rue also meets her boyfriend Fez again. Fez was played by Angus Cloud, who himself died of an accidental overdose in 2023. (In the series, the character was not killed, but is in prison.)
“The Fez and Rue flashback made me cry,” one fan wrote. “The scene with Rue and Fez – I could cry,” another. “This is really heartbreaking,” noted a third.
Labrinth is missing from the finish
But even though Rue’s final scene was extremely emotionally charged, some fans noticed what was missing: “Rue Bennett’s death scene makes me sob – and the fact that NO Labrinth song was playing is INSANE,” one tweet said. (Labrinth, who composed the music for the first two seasons of “Euphoria,” was not involved in season three. He hasn’t explained in detail what exactly happened – but in April he wrote on social media: “I left because – ultimate truth – when I work for someone, their vision is the most important thing to me. But I won’t let them treat me like dirt.”)
Fans were similarly frustrated by the fact that Rue’s death seemed to occur in a vacuum, while other characters were barely given space – most notably Hunter Schafer’s Jules. Someone put it this way: “Killing off Rue was bad enough – but why did we barely see any reaction from the long-standing characters? Why was it almost all Ali? Jules had a single scene without a single line of dialogue? Leslie was in the episode, but only in a death dream sequence? Man, whatever… never has the death of a character I loved so much left me so empty.”
rue dead
nate dead
laurie dead
alamo dead
naz dead
paladin dead
lexi annoying
jules on another planet
ali hanging on by a thread
maddy and cassie: pic.twitter.com/pFZZaQBoyl— b (@pauliebleek3r) June 1, 2026
Those who struggled with the ending directed their criticism primarily at “Euphoria” showrunner Sam Levinson. “No funeral for your main character. Ali and the Amish girl are the only ones who care about her death. No resolution with Leslie or Gia,” someone wrote, referring to the many loose ends. “There are not enough words in any language to describe how terrible this man is.”
Sam Levinson in the crossfire
“The color palette change… the raw milk… Rue saying she wants to be a tradwife, Christian propaganda, random Nazis, insults everywhere, women as objects, Nazis wanting to LYNCH RUE WITH A HORSE, THE FINAL SCENE… SAM LEVINSON YOU WILL BURN,” raged another angry fan.
And yet – the Internet remains the Internet: Even for such a devastating and divisive finale, there were still good memes. “Rue dead, Nate dead, Laurie dead, Alamo dead, Naz dead, Paladin dead, Lexi annoying, Jules on another planet, Ali hanging by a thread,” one user summarized the dark fates of many “Euphoria” characters.
And then, in response to Alexa Demie’s Maddy and Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie starting out as social media influencers together: a photo of Blake Lively and Leighton Meester from the “Gossip Girl” days, captioned “Every brunette needs a blonde best friend.”