The 15-year-old star opens up to ET about unexpected season 2 finale of 'Euphoria.'
After an intense season, Euphoria wrapped up season 2 with a shocking finale that saw the demise of several major characters, including teenage drug dealer Ashtray (Javon Walton). The 15-year-old star, who has played Fezco’s (Angus Cloud) younger adopted brother since season 1, opens up to ET’s Denny Directo about the bloody end to his story, who originally was supposed to die, his feelings about the Fexi romance and beating up co-star Eric Dane earlier in the season.
While most of characters were still reeling from Lexi’s (Maude Apatow) play, one person missing from the audience was Fez. He was last seen in the prior episode getting ready at his apartment where there was mounting tension with Custer (Tyler Chase), who was wearing a wire in hopes of narcing on his friends.
The finale, “All My Life, My Heart Has Yearned for a Thing I Cannot Name” written and directed by creator Sam Levinson, wasted no time in revealing what stopped Fez from showing up. And like many feared going into the last episode, it would be because someone didn’t make it out alive.
After Custer fails to get Fez to confess to everything that happened at the beginning of season 2, Ashtray kills him. And that’s when all hell breaks loose. Realizing that they’re going to be raided, Fez says he’ll take the fall for Ashtray's murder and be the one that gets arrested. However, his younger brother doesn’t listen to him, and gets into a shootout with the police after barricading himself in the bathroom.
According to Walton, Ashtray’s untimely death wasn’t the original plan for the finale. In fact, it was supposed to be Fez who was killed, as many fans had pondered since the season 2 premiere, which opened with a flashback that chronicled his life growing up with his grandmother (Kathrine Narducci). But a day before filming, Levinson rewrote the script and changed the ending.
“It was insane that ended up being the ending of it all,” Walton says.
The finale, in many ways, still brought the events of the premiere, which showed how this makeshift, drug-dealing family came to be, full circle. “It just shows all of the back stories and explanations for why the characters are who they are today,” Cloud previously told ET. And that includes Ashtray, who is fiercely loyal to his brother and grandmother and quickly resorts to violence here.
“He’s definitely ride or die for [Fez]. That’s his main thing,” Walton says now.
“He really snapped in the last episode. That was his breaking point,” the actor continues. And even though everyone treats Ashtray like an adult, he’s still a vulnerable kid at the end of the day. “He doesn’t show it that often but when he does, it’s noticeable that he’s a kid.”
While Walton is quick to suggest that Ashtray could have survived the raid (“You never saw him in that pool of blood on the ground,” he points out), it’s hard to imagine that his story continues given such a fitting end to his character. Recalling that his final scene was being covered in dust in the bathtub, Walton was sad because he knew it would be his last time on set. “It was a bit crazy knowing this is where I started, too,” Walton says.
Even though Walton’s time on the series, which was renewed for season 3, may have been cut short, he has lots of great memories of being on set, especially working alongside Cloud. “We had a ton of fun,” Walton says, noting how “super laid-back” his co-star is. “We had a really good chemistry. So it was easy to build that Ashtray and Fez chemistry because we were doing that so well off camera.”
And like many, Walton is a fan of his onscreen brother’s budding romance with Lexi. “It was a really cute relationship and I hope they go far in season 3. I thought it was a really good bond,” he says of the pair, dubbed Fexi by fans, noting that “it added an extra layer to [Angus’] character.”
He also recalls working with Dane, who plays Nate’s (Jacob Elordi) father. As Cal, the actor ends up on the receiving end of a beatdown after he tries to threaten Fez in episode 3. While the bottom of the gun was made of rubber, it was still a pretty hard surface.
“I felt really bad… I really went for it,” Walton says of smashing it across Dane’s head. And after a few hours of shooting that bloody scene, he reveals that Dane joked about being concussed. “I don’t know if he really did or not [but] he was amazing.”
He adds that Dane is “an extremely talented actor… and was able to add a little extra flavor to it.”
Although Walton’s time on Euphoria has come to a close, the actor will soon be seen on screen again. First he’ll appear opposite Sylvester Stallone in the superhero film Samaritan, and then he’s playing a new character on the anticipated third season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy.
While he does share scenes with one of the series’ main stars, Elliot Page, Walton couldn’t disclose too much about his role, except that he may not be part of the Academy. “A lot of people are thinking I’m joining the Academy and it’s really cool seeing all the theories they’re making on it,” he teases. “But [producers] Steve Blackman and Jeff King did an amazing job on writing my character and I can’t wait for you to see how he came to life. It’s really, really cool.”
Euphoria season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max.
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