Oakland native Angus Cloud as Fezco in an earlier season of HBO’s “Euphoria.” Cloud, who died in 2023, makes a cameo appearance in the series finale.
HBO
Angus Cloud made a surprise appearance in the stunning series finale of “Euphoria” over the weekend, a cameo that still has fans buzzing.
The Oakland native reappeared on Sunday, May 31, as Fezco, the drug dealer who became the protector of Rue, played by fellow Oakland actor Zendaya, in the first two seasons of the HBO show. The clip, which lasted just a few seconds, was from a scene filmed years earlier.
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Cloud, who attended Oakland School for the Arts with Zendaya, died of a drug overdose in Oakland in 2023.
“Moments like these are rare,” series creator Sam Levinson said during a screening of the finale in New York on Sunday. “Many of you loved (Angus) the way I did. He deserved more time, a longer, fuller life. But he was taken, like far too many people in this country, by fentanyl.”
Zendaya in a scene from Season 3 of HBO’s “Euphoria.”
HBO Max
But it’s the reason for his surprise appearance that gave the scene its emotional weight. As Rue lay dying and hallucinating, Fezco seems to be whisking her away to heaven as they stand in an empty field, enjoying nature, their arms around each other.
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Like Cloud, Rue dies of a fentanyl overdose, just one of the many surprises of what Levinson finally confirmed was not only the the Season 3 finale but the series conclusion.
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“In terms of the story that we set out to tell, which is a story about addiction and its consequences, this feels like the end to me,” Levinson said.
Colman Domingo in a scene from Season 3 of HBO’s “Euphoria.”
HBO Max
Meanwhile, Zendaya and Colman Domingo are drawing early Emmy buzz for the riveting but messy Season 3, which is now streaming on HBO Max.
Zendaya, who won Emmys in each of the first two seasons of “Euphoria,” returns as Rue, the show’s narrator and emotional center. In the finale, she dies on the couch of her sponsor, Ali (Domingo, the former San Francisco theater actor who won an Emmy for this role), after taking fentanyl-laced pills supplied by a pimp named Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). It was a turn that stunned and divided fans who had followed her struggle toward sobriety for seven years.
“didn’t want this ending for rue at all,” wrote freelance writer and critic Diya Gohil on X. “she deserved so so much better. i genuinely cannot stop crying this isn’t fair.”
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Ali’s role, more of a cameo in Season 1 and 2, was expanded in Season 3, and the final half-hour of the series finale was devoted to his quest to get justice for Rue, killing Alamo in his own strip club after a tense shootout.
Sydney Sweeney, left, and Alexa Demie in a scene from Season 3 of HBO’s “Euphoria.”
HBO Max
Reviewing the first three episodes made available to critics in April for the Chronicle, Carla Meyer observed Levinson”chooses shock value too often, leaning toward depravity.” But AwardsWatch Editor in Chief and Bay Area resident Erik Anderson called the third season “audacious.”
“The crazier it got, the more I liked it,” Anderson posted. “It was pulpy, messy and a nonstop showcase for Zendaya, who took it all the way to the bitter end for Rue.”
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Seasons 1 and 2, inspired by the Israeli series by the same name, followed the characters as high schoolers. But since Season 3 was delayed by four years as Zendaya, Domingo, Sydney Sweeney (Cassie) and Jacob Elordi (Nate) all became major film stars, Levinson decided to track their lives in their early 20s.
Guest stars include Sharon Stone, Danielle Deadwyler and Oakland native and former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch. San Francisco native Eric Dane, who played Nate’s father Cal in the first two seasons, completed his scenes before dying of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in February.