The HBO show that helped launched the careers of Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi and more has concluded its third season. See what happened in the finale.Show Caption
Warning: this story contains spoilers from the Season 3 finale of "Euphoria," now streaming on HBO.The curtain has finally closed on "Euphoria" after three seasons.HBO's Gen Z sensation, which premiered in 2019, concluded its third and final season on Sunday, May 31.With the final episode, viewers got answers about what happens to Rue (Zendaya), Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), Maddy (Alexa Demie) and the rest of the gang after a season of highs and lows, including a major death in the penultimate Season 3 episode.There was no shortage of drama in the final episode either, as another heartbreaking death unfolded while an epic showdown and intense drug raid took place. Here's what happened in the series finale.How does 'Euphoria' end?The finale episode picked up after Rue and Faye (Chloe Cherry) broke into the basement safe at drug dealer Laurie's (Martha Kelly) while Faye's boyfriend Wayne (Toby Wallace) slept in bed nearby.After Faye realizes there was no money in the safe as Rue promised, she throws Rue under the bus by waking up Wayne. Rue then flees the home as Wayne chases her with a shotgun. As she's running outside, one of Wayne's accomplices catches up to her on horseback and lassos her feet. G (Marshawn Lynch), who is watching from the hills nearby, ends up shooting Wayne's accomplice, allowing Rue to escape with him back to Alamo's (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).Following the dramatic ordeal, Alamo thanks Rue for her work and offers her Percocet and a bottle of pills to help her manage the pain from the hand injury she sustained at Laurie's.In the meantime, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) finally raids Laurie's property, thanks to the intel Rue had been giving them. Wayne and Faye escape the compound moments before the feds move in, while Laurie chooses to hang herself to avoid going to prison.Does Rue die in the 'Euphoria' series finale?While visiting her sponsor, Ali (Colman Domingo), Rue learns that her friend Fezco (the late Angus Cloud) escaped from prison. Vowing to keep her word to help him if he ever escaped, Rue sets out to find Fezco − a sequence that sees her driving erratically, evading police lines and revisiting memories and scenes from her past (many from Season 1.)She eventually makes it to her childhood home and reunites with her mom, Leslie (Nika King). More flashbacks of Rue with Fezco follow, until it's clear that this is all a dream.In reality, Rue takes the drugs that Alamo gave her and dies on Ali's couch, her final moments spent gasping for air and reaching out for her mom. Ali later finds her, a moment that leaves him completely heartbroken, before testing the drugs and confirming they were laced with fentanyl.What happens to Cassie, Maddy, Jules and Lexi?After a horrific end to last week's episode, in which Nate (Jacob Elordi) dies from a rattlesnake bite while buried underground in a coffin, Cassie and Maddy are left shellshocked by his death.As they continue to process the gruesome events, the two decide to turn Cassie and Nate's home into a content creator house. They end up asking Lexi (Maude Apatow) to direct the content, but she declines, remaining true to her morals and values. Cassie also refrains from telling Lexi the truth about Nate, only saying that he disappeared and she misses him, while Maddy remains entangled with Alamo over her debts.As for Jules (Hunter Schafer), she makes a brief appearance in the finale, seemingly channeling her grief from Rue's death into a painting of her teenage love. She is still living in the penthouse apartment with her sugar daddy, who kisses her on the forehead while she paints.Rue's death prompts Ali to seek revengeDistraught over Rue's death and tired of losing people he loves to addiction, Ali decides to take matters into his own hands and sets out to kill Alamo himself.After showing up at his strip club, a showdown between Ali and Alamo ensues. Ultimately, Ali shoots and kills Alamo after his right-hand man, Bishop (Darrell Britt-Gibson), turns on him and secretly removes the bullets from Alamo’s gun.In the final moments of the finale, Ali goes to the family homestead, where Rue visited at the beginning of the season, hoping to find the same level of peace she felt there. He tells the family that Rue was his daughter and she is "in a better place."Ali spends the day with the family and has dinner with them, before concluding the episode with a prayer around the dinner table in Rue's memory. Rue is then shown sitting across the table, smiling back at Ali.Sam Levinson defends his decision to kill Rue, honor Angus CloudCreator Sam Levinson said in a post-episode featurette that it was always important to him that "Euphoria" tell an authentic story about addiction and grief − even if it meant killing off some of the most beloved characters on the show."It felt like an honest ending,” Levinson said. "The honest ending is people like Rue don’t make it."But there was also a personal tie for Levinson and the "Euphoria" family, having lost Cloud to an accidental overdose in 2023."I wanted to tell the story for Angus and for people who weren’t granted a second chance," he said.
