‘Euphoria’ Season 3’s Devastating Loss Brought The Series To A Dissatisyfing Finale

BusinessMedia‘Euphoria’ Season 3’s Devastating Loss Brought The Series To A Dissatisyfing FinaleBySabrina Reed,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Sabrina Reed is a journalist who covers Hollywood and the TV industry.Follow AuthorJun 01, 2026, 05:16pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Zendaya as Rue Bennett in Euphoria season 3.Photograph by Patrick Wymore/HBO Major spoilers ahead for the Euphoria season 3 finale and mention of suicideIn hindsight, Rue’s (Zendaya) death and the subsequent story that follows in Euphoria season 3, episode 8 “In God We Trust,” was how the series was always going to end once creator Sam Levinson decided to make the season a neo-Western. Women don’t typically lead Westerns. They’re either tragic figures, love interests, have fallen from their place in society or fit all three categories. Women are not the heroes. Men save them or they kill them, that’s often their place in the genre. Euphoria’s third outing was uninterested in subverting narratives common to Westerns, including its on-and-off religious focus and its shallow examination of the American Dream. The audience, like Rue, should have heeded Ali’s (Colman Domingo) warning that Moses doesn’t make it to the Promise Land. It was an aside that let us know that neither would Rue.Zendaya as Rue Bennett in Euphoria season 3Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO How Rue Died in ‘Euphoria’A hallmark of Euphoria is Rue’s ability to escape any situation she’s landed herself in no matter how dire. But that came to an abrupt end in the finale. MORE FOR YOUAt the top of “In God We Trust,” she manages to escape Wayne’s (Toby Wallace) bunker by the skin of her teeth. Though Faye (Chloe Cherry) screamed for him, Rue was able to hit Wayne hard in the leg with a heavy tool before he could get up. The injury slowed him down long enough that she had just enough time to get a hor...