In another world, HBO‘s Euphoria might’ve had a happy ending. But then, that wouldn’t have been very truthful, says creator Sam Levinson.

“The honest ending is people like Rue don’t make it,” he said in a behind-the-scenes video after the now-series finale.

In Sunday night’s finale, Zendaya‘s Rue Bennett dies of a fentanyl overdose after relapsing on laced Percocet given to her by Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). That is how former Euphoria star Angus Cloud, who played Rue’s friend Fezco O’Neill, died in 2023 — and it’s also a fate Levinson believes he narrowly escaped himself.

“People relapse. They f*ck up. They’re not ready to get clean, and they weren’t dying like they are now with the influx of fentanyl into this country,” he said. “I could say with absolute certainty that if I was going through what I went through when I was younger now, then I wouldn’t be here, either. There’s no reason to sugarcoat that. I wanted to tell the story for Angus and for people who aren’t granted a second chance.”

Of course, he acknowledges how difficult it might be for viewers to wrap their head around the choice, in part because of Zendaya’s magnetic performance that has kept audiences on her side despite her transgressions.

“Zendaya’s performance has been so wonderful and layered over the course of these seasons,” he added. “We fell in love with this character, this girl who’s flawed, f*cked up, but has a good heart and is trying to do right, at least sometimes.”

Rue’s death comes just 45 minutes into the finale, around the halfway point. In another story, things might’ve ended there. That would be the “normal, sane television show,” jokes Levinson, which Euphoria is not.

Ali (Colman Domingo), Rue’s sponsor, finds her dead on his couch the morning after Alamo tells her to take some time off to address her injuries from escaping Laurie’s. He quickly discovers the fentanyl-laced pills and sets out for revenge against the man who killed her.

“I knew that I wanted to experience Rue’s death through him,” Levinson explained. “There’s a sort of [feeling of] helplessness. Letting Colman articulate that, for us as an audience, is really important.”

Ali doesn’t remain helpless for very long, though. After trying to grieve the quote-unquote proper way for a few months — going to AA meetings, sponsoring others, and relying on his faith — he’s found that doesn’t really work for him anymore. Eventually, a hardened Ali tells his support group that he’ll no longer be attending meetings, as he’s searching for a more meaningful way to make a difference.

Then, he saws the barrel off his shotgun and, in the second shootout of the episode, Ali murders Alamo with three bullets to the chest inside the Silver Slipper.

“It was nice to take Ali out of the box and have him dance with other players,” Domingo said of branching out from his typically isolated scenes with Zendaya.

It’s not exactly as if any of the other characters are in a much better spot, either. Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Maddy (Alexa Demie) are in a mountain of debt and are trying to cover up Nate’s (Jacob Elordi) death.

“Maddy has always been very guarded, and I think at that point in the diner, I think she’s done. She’s really tender inside,” Demie said in the video.

Levinson thinks that, while their reunification was in some ways born out of duress, Cassie and Maddy are the real “love story” of Season 3.

“They’ve been through so much together, and there they are in the end, all they really got is each other and a whole bunch of debt,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lexi (Maude Apatow) is having an existential crisis after reading the Bible that Rue left at her apartment. She tries to talk to Cassie about it, but the sisters have never really had an emotional connection, and Cassie shrugs her off. Jules (Hunter Schafer), still living in her sugar daddy’s apartment to pay for art school, is clearly grieving the loss as well.

“I’ve always been against utopian storytelling,” adds Levinson. “I think in the end I wanted to tell an honest story about addiction. I also wanted to tell a story about grief and the emotional turmoil that it can create.”