Euphoria Creator Addresses Season 3’s Graphic Death Scene

This article contains major spoilers for the latest episode of Euphoria.

Euphoria boss Sam Levinson has shared his thoughts on the most recent episode of the hit US drama, which featured the death of a major character.

As you’re reading this, we’re going to assume you know now that in the latest instalment of the award-winning series, Jacob Elordi’s character Nate was killed off.

However, it wasn’t just Nate’s death that left viewers reeling, but also the way he died, being stung by a venomous rattlesnake while buried alive.

Speaking to Esquire, Euphoria’s creator Sam Levinson shared exactly where the idea for Jacob’s character to die in such a gruesome way came from.

Explaining that it was always his plan for Nate to die in season three, he said that the character’s burial was an homage to The Candy Snatchers.

The rest of it came to him while driving to work with his wife, Ashley Lent, one morning.

“It was one of those gorgeous L.A. days where it was perfect weather,” he recalled.

“We’re listening to Otis Redding. The windows are down and we’re driving to Warner Bros. and I’m looking out the window. I just had this image of a rattlesnake coming toward 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 noted that it’s “sort of a funny moment where you realise that not all dark scenes come from a dark place”, adding: “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?’.”

Despite being put through the ringer to shoot the scenes practical effects, Jacob has admitted he had a surprisingly good time filming his character’s death.

In a behind-the-scenes video, the Oscar nominee said: “I had to go into this coffin, my shoulders were touching the sides and I couldn’t move my arms. And then they would drill the lid on, and it would get dark. It was really nice, actually, it was quite peaceful in there.”

“[The snake] was super cute. He was, like, real cuddly,” Jacob then insisted. “He kind of just saddled up next to me, and it was nice. But he was real sleepy – sleepy snake. I had to kind of nudge him to get him to come up [to my face].”

Euphoria’s season three finale – widely believed to be the last ever episode of the show – will premiere on Sky and Now in the UK on Monday 1 June.