Euphoria Season 3 ventures away from the hazy hormonal maze of adolescence to fully embrace a shadowy underworld known as “adulthood.” While Rue (Zendaya) and Maddy (Alexa Demie) have found themselves dealing with the devil known as Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Jules (Hunter Schafer) has refashioned herself into a sugar baby. She is a kept woman, idling her days and nights away in a modern downtown LA tower. And the powerful man who has locked our princess away for his personal pleasure on the HBO hit? None other than powerhouse plastic surgeon Ellis (Sam Trammell).

We first meet Ellis in the cold open of Euphoria Season 3 Episode 3 “The Ballad of Paladin,” which explores how Rue’s high school sweetheart left art school for sex work. After working as a high-paid escort for a string of wealthy clients, Jules finds herself on a date with the charming Ellis. He introduces himself by saying, “I do what God didn’t,” and then points out that Jules has done the same via her teenaged transition. Soon, we learn, he is her only client and she lives in that gorgeous penthouse apartment he pays for so he can visit her when he likes and wrap her naked body up in plastic.

“I didn’t realize that I’d have an industrial-sized Saran wrap thing!” Euphoria actor Sam Trammell told DECIDER this week. “I don’t know, it was completely unexpected. It felt like a piece of art. It felt almost like performance art to me.” 

We’ve only gotten a few scenes with Ellis, but they all hit as hard as one of loanshark Naz’s (Jack Topalian) goons. When DECIDER caught up with Trammell, the former True Blood star shared the hilariously short timeline he had to prepare for the role, Ellis’s true feelings about Jules, and how co-star Hunter Schafer really painted all of Jules’s incredible works of art…

DECIDER: Talk to me about Ellis. We know he’s a plastic surgeon. He’s got a very specific way that he talks and how he’s groomed that gives “plastic surgeon” to me, but for some reason I can’t quite place it. I’m curious if there was a certain person that you took inspiration from and how you built his whole vibe? 

SAM TRAMMELL: No, I had so little time for this. I had been on vacation. I had found out about this part like back in, I don’t know, February or something of last year. I really have so much respect for Euphoria. It’s such a beautiful show and so I read for this part, didn’t hear anything. Then we got back from the vacation and we were at baggage claim. It was a Friday and I found out that not only did I have the part — I’d forgotten about this part, this was in September — not only did I have it, but I was going to be naked on Monday. So…(chuckling)  I had been eating bread and drinking wine, just cheating on any kind of a diet. So I had like three days and so it was really quick. It was really quick. 

But it’s really interesting because I agree with you. There is something in that scene — the scene where you first meet me — about the rhythm of my speech and the way I’m talking, that’s not me at all. You know, it’s definitely different. It is very objectifying, in a way, sort of treating the body like [that] because he is a scientist and he has that kind of scientific mind. We did that scene so many times because Sam Levinson, he’s really incredible to work with. He’s obsessed with performance like almost nobody else I’ve worked with. So we really did it a lot of times and we ended up with what you saw, obviously, which was a very kind of stilted, scientific kind of guy. And I know I’m going on talking here. He kind of softens up, though, as it goes on. And I think he really falls for Jules, but in that scene he is very, very scientific. My father is a surgeon, but I didn’t model the character after him.

A lot of people were talking about the Episode 3 scene where you’re wrapping Hunter in plastic. I think our recapper thought it was a kind of a fun nod to Twin Peaks. I’ve seen other people have their commentary. Where did you think that came from as an impulse that he wanted to explore? 

I mean, I have no idea. Yeah, like who knows? But I was surprised because I didn’t realize that I’d have an industrial-sized Saran wrap thing. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I pictured just something out of a box you’d get at at the grocery and kind of being close to her and wrapping. But it was so beautifully shot. They set this shot up and she’s in the middle of the room, and I came in and saw the setup and I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is like I’m deifying her.” What was interesting about it was that he had me walk — and I don’t know if you could see it in the shots — but he had me really far away from her. So you had all this Saran wrap in the room between her and me and this really wide circle that got smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. I thought that was just really interesting. And the last was her hands and I was getting closer and closer to her. I don’t know, it was completely unexpected. It felt like a piece of art. It felt almost like performance art to me. 

I watched this week’s episode and there’s this heartbreaking line that he gives her when he’s accusing her of sleeping with guys behind his back. “I like you, but I love my family.” The camera stays on Jules’s face and you see how this tears her apart. I’m curious if Ellis even registers what he’s done, what he’s said? And what does that tell you about how he sees Jules? 

I don’t think he has. I think Ellis is really a lot about power. In my sort of world of thinking of him, he’s masking his affection for her. And I think he does that always. I think that he doesn’t give her a lot. He kind of just gives a little bit and just to keep the power. And, yeah, I think you’re right. She is really hurt by that. But as he says, he can’t risk any kind of STD or anything like that because he does have this family that he’s prioritizing. He’s not going to leave the family, I don’t think. We’ll see. 

I thought it was really interesting, I was watching the very first scene that we talked about earlier, his very first line is, “I do what God didn’t.” I think that’s a really interesting line, considering all the religious overtones this season. How do you see that line and what it tells you about where he fits into these more overarching good and evil religious themes? 

Yeah, that’s wow. That’s a really, really interesting thing to think about. I think it says a lot about his ego. Because even though he’s kind of at times shy in that scene and tentative, he sees himself like a God-like figure. I think he has a lot of pride in what he does. In a way, flaunting the spiritual realm and seeing himself deify himself in that way. But yeah, it really says a lot about his ego, for sure. 

So what it’s been like to work with Hunter? I’ve only interviewed her once and she seems so lovely. What’s it been like on set with you guys? Because you definitely have a lot of intimate and emotional scenes to navigate. 

Yeah, she’s so cool. Like, our first scene was we were naked together and it was the sex scene. And she’s so easy and just chill and she’s such a great actress. I mean, she’s so fun to work with. She’s so open and free and there’s nothing holding her back. Like, she’s just like this kind of easy flow of energy, which is what we love to see on camera. She was really, to me, welcoming and just cool. And, you know, she’s amazing. She’s really amazing. By the way, she’s an incredible visual artist. She did all the paintings. I mean, we did a scene where she was literally painting a painting during the middle, before, and after. She went to art school. She’s a really great artist. 

Amazing, amazing. I was kind of struck how as soon as she becomes exclusive to Ellis, you see her hair changes. She starts wearing wigs. She starts to have more of a performative kind of beauty. And I was just curious, if you noticed that at all and maybe if you thought that was tied to how Ellis likes to tweak things and make them a little bit less natural. 

You know, I didn’t notice that when we were shooting because I only had so much exposure to her. But you’re totally right. You’re totally right. I think that goes hand-in-hand with the plastic surgeon thing, the sort of control of appearance and wanting just… You know, it’s the power thing. Also wanting to just be able to make someone your doll in a way and objectifying them. And again, I think that there’s an element that’s crumbling behind the scenes of that and I think he really is falling for her.

If he’s really falling for her, I’m curious about when he is upset that he finds Rue’s shorts. Is it just the fear of STD or is there some jealousy there that he needs to address? 

Oh, no. I think it’s first jealousy, one hundred percent. I mean, that’s a great question. Definitely. You first see that and it’s immediate jealousy. And then, you know, the pride. I think he’s too proud to say he’s jealous and then another reason comes up. And that comes up in his head, too, but it’s more of the jealousy for sure. 

I have to ask about the set. Like, it feels like she’s in this modern, industrial-like tower, Rapunzel situation where she’s being kept like a princess in a storybook. But it’s also very LA. What was it like to shoot there and how did that inform how you saw the relationship? 

Oh, I was blown away. That set was unreal. I mean,it was all LA. Just the way it was set up. The apartment is elevated off the studio floor. So you have a sense of it not being [on the ground]. Like a lot of productions would just have it on the ground. Then the sky, the buildings, and the skyline had all these little lights in there. I mean, they have such an incredible budget and it’s really stark. I feel like it’s really stark. And I think Jules will kind of put her own touches on that place, but I haven’t put any of myself. There’s nothing of me in it. I feel like Ellis doesn’t want to leave residual pieces of himself because I think he’s scared, you know, symbolically, of getting too close to her, you know? So it’s off limits for him. But I think she puts her little touches in it. But it was a beautiful place. Like I couldn’t believe how big that set was and how beautiful.

I haven’t seen any of the future episodes, so I don’t know if there’s going to be more with Ellis and with Jules, but is there anything you could tease if there is something important coming down the way? Or if there is there a world in which you could soften for her? 

I think there is. I mean, there’s a little bit more of Ellis as far as I know. You just never know. They shoot so much in the show and keep some things and don’t. I think there definitely is a world for them. There’s a lot of potential for this relationship. We haven’t seen as much of Ellis as I have to give.

This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.