**WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Euphoria season 3, episode 7.**
Euphoria season 3 has left fans aghast with a truly nightmarish death scene for one of the show’s most recognisable faces.
The latest episodes of the HBO thriller have taken things up a notch, with the group of characters we first met at high school (in season 1) finding themselves in ever more extreme scenarios.
For Nate (played by Wuthering Heights and Saltburn star Jacob Elordi), time ran out in last night’s episode, which saw his character pay the ultimate price for the mounting debts he had accumulated from Naz (Jack Topalian).
Previously, Nate had suffered a savage beating on the night of his wedding (to Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie), in which his crooked creditors cut off one of his toes.
In the penultimate episode of the season, Naz and his men dug Nate a grave and buried him alive, with only a small pipe to the surface to replenish the air supply. Perhaps, with a bit more luck, he may have survived the claustrophobia-inducing torture.
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Alas, in a dark twist of fate, a curious rattlesnake wound up slithering its way down that air pipe, proceeding to plunge its venomous fangs into the entombed victim below. It’s a horrible way to go – and that’s exactly what Euphoria creator Sam Levinson wanted.
In an interview with Esquire, the screenwriter noted that fans had been calling for Nate to face consequences for his toxic behaviour over the course of the series. He aimed to deliver something so visceral that it would make those same viewers reconsider.
Levinson said: “I know what the audience wants in terms of justice or karma and with that in mind, I always think, ‘Well, how can I give it to them? How can I give them what they want, but make it so horrific and anxiety-inducing that by the time it happens, the audience isn’t so sure they wanted it?’
“It’s like, ‘Oh, you wanted him to get his comeuppance…? Okay…’,” he continued. “That feeling of complicity with the audience is always an interesting note to play inside of this sort of larger structure. You end up going, ‘Oh God, I don’t know. Should he have had it better? Did he deserve it?'”
Levinson concluded: “Those kinds of questions are always exciting to pose to the audience.”
The showrunner also gave some insight into how the horrifying scenes were created, revealing that real venomous rattlesnakes were used for scenes leading up to Nate’s death. Unsurprisingly, a non-venomous substitute joined Elordi in his coffin.
Euphoria concludes its third season next week. Here’s hoping the worst is behind us – but you never know with this show.
Euphoria is available to stream on HBO Max and NOW.
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