Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi, Maude Apatow and more react to the season 2 finale.
After seven shocking and wild episodes, Euphoria season 2 has come to a close. But not before the cast opened up to ET about the unexpected ending, which “feels like the end of days,” Jacob Elordi said. “It’s madness.”
The finale, “All My Life, My Heart Has Yearned for a Thing I Cannot Name” written and directed by creator Sam Levinson, picked up immediately following episode 7’s cliffhanger, which saw Maddy (Alexa Demie), Jules (Hunter Schafer), Kat (Barbie Ferreira) and a recently sober Rue (Zendaya) all having various, bemused reactions to Lexi’s (Maude Apatow) provocative play while Nate (Elordi) walked out and Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) was left fuming.
Not only that, but one seat in the audience remained empty as Fezco’s (Angus Cloud) whereabouts remained unclear. The missing half of Fexi was last seen getting ready at his apartment where there was mounting tension between Ashtray (Javon Walton), Faye (Chloe Cherry) and Custer (Tyler Chase), who was wearing a wire in hopes of narcing on Fez.
The episode opens with Fez letting Lexi know that he’s on his way to the play when Custer wants to talk to him “about everything.” Luckily, Faye turns on her boyfriend and warns Fez not to reveal anything while also trying to frame Laurie (Martha Kelly), the drug dealer that almost kidnapped Rue at one point. However, before Fez can convince Custer to agree on what happened at the beginning of season 2, Ashtray kills him.
This all brings the premiere episode, which explored Fex and Ashtray’s childhood, full circle. “I was super excited,” Cloud told ET of the flashback that explored his past with his grandmother (played by Kathrine Narducci in the season 2 premiere). “It just shows all of the back stories and explanations for why the characters are who they are today.” Even Ashtray, who quickly resorts to violence when it comes to defending his makeshift family.
It’s an important detail to remember as Ashtray goes against Fez’s plan to take the fall for the murder and barricades himself in the bathroom as the SWAT team raids the apartment. While everyone forfeits to the authorities, Ashtray’s gunfight results in Fez getting shot and his life hanging in the balance. And in the end, Ashtray is shot dead.
Meanwhile, back at the play, Lexi is desperately waiting to hear from Fez, who still hasn’t shown up. That’s when a distraught Cassie (now more like the iconic Carrie) storms down the aisle of the auditorium and takes to the stage and brings the performance to a dead stop. “Lexi, you really outdid yourself,” she says to the crowd before trying to embarrass Lexi for putting on a play about their lives.
Cassie then berates Lexi for being a “bystander” while their mom, Suze (Alanna Ubach), tries to pull her off the stage. Before she can, Cassie and Maddy get into it over their ongoing fight over Nate and who was dating who when and start fighting on stage and then off.
“There’s so many things that are explored this season that weren’t in the first season. Their dynamic is a lot more complicated than you would expect,” Apatow said of the two sisters, while Sweeney added, “I was actually sad to see how complicated it became as the season went on.”
Sweeney continued by saying, “Seeing what the sisters did to each other started to break me.”
While there was a dramatic interruption to the performance, the audience rallies behind Lexi and encourages her to finish it. “It definitely rattles things for everyone,” Apatow said of the show. “I think it just brought up a lot of things that no one really wants to deal with and it’s uncomfortable to watch.”
Later, Rue recounts her encounter with Eliot and thanks him for saving her life. After they talk for a bit, he plays her a song. The two decide they can still be friends despite everything that’s happened, particularly between Eliot and Jules.
“We witness the trio get wrapped up in some messy shit and it implodes and they have to deal with the consequences,” Schafer said.
After the play, Jules attempts to apologize to Rue for the intervention. Although she doesn’t say anything, Rue plants a kiss on Jules’ forehead before walking away.
In an unexpected twist, Nate finds his father Cal (Eric Dane) in a warehouse, where he’s been living since he left his family during an alcohol-fueled tirade. Cal then tries to apologize to Nate for being a bad father.
“I think that his biggest regret is that he failed miserably with his son,” Dane said. “I do think Cal’s going to get the opportunity to become a better parent. And I think that’s what Nate wants. He wants a father.”
But before he can do that, Cal is arrested by the police, seemingly putting an end to any potential relationship the two will have moving forward.
Despite just how dark things got in season 2, especially for Rue, it was important for the season to end on a note of hope for the future, with Rue revealing that she stays clean throughout the rest of the year. “The thought of maybe being a good person, is what keeps me trying to be a good person,” Rue recalls Ali (Colman Domingo) telling her.
“There’s a dark place that hits right in the middle of the season. And it was painful for everyone involved with making it. I know it was painful for me and I think it got to the point of, ‘We can’t leave her here. This can’t be the end of her story. There has to be some hope at the end of this. Something beautiful at the end of all this pain,’” Zendaya said, referring to Rue’s relapse and intervention.
“I think that’s what we need. I think that’s what the world needs,” she continued. “So, if you can hold onto that, if you can bear with her through those painful moments, if you can still root for her, then maybe there is some hope at the end.”
That said, when it comes to season 3, the cast is in the dark about where things go next, especially after seeing how things played out for their characters.
“I thought in season 1, Cassie had her sh*t together. I thought she was confident, she was going to find herself and there was going to be a really cool woman awakening inside,” Sweeney said of going into season 2. “And then I was just slapped in the face. Cassie is not together. So, I have no idea what she’s going to do next season.”
When asked if there are any hopes for a reconciliation between Kat and Ethan (Austin Abrams), the actor wasn’t sure. “I hope there’s still more to do,” Abrams said. “If there’s something with Kat, I think that’d be really interesting to see what that looks like, especially with this character feeling very differently and having the time to think about it once he’s out of the relationship.”
As for the fallout between friends, Demie said, “We obviously end with Maddy and Cassie’s gorgeous friendship shattered. So, that leaves one to question whether or not they will reconnect, [if the] female friendship will thrive or if they will just never talk to each other again.”
“Maddy is extremely internal and reflecting on a lot of what has gone down between the two people she cared about and thought cared about her,” she continued. “I think she’s figuring out where to go next and finding more independence.”
Reflecting on the surprising turn of events in season 2, Elordi wouldn’t be surprised if the series went in a whole other direction. “Given the change in the second season, I’d imagine [season 3] would just be a complete shock again,” he said. “It could just be like a completely new show again.”
Euphoria season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max.
--Reporting by Denny Directo and Stacy Lambe
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