The deaths came one week after the series shocked viewers by killing off Jacob Elordi’s Nate.

Euphoria just killed 4 major characters in season 3 finale, show’s most painful episode yet

The deaths came one week after the series shocked viewers by killing off Jacob Elordi's Nate.

Joey Nolfi

Joey Nolfi is a senior writer at *. *Since 2016, his work at EW includes RuPaul’s Drag Race video interviews, Oscars predictions, and more.

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May 31, 2026 11:04 p.m. ET

Zendaya in 'Euphoria' season 3 finale. Credit:

- *Euphoria* killed off four major characters in its season 3 finale, the show's most painful episode yet.

- Martha Kelly's Laurie met a brutal end near the beginning of the episode, while Zendaya's Rue suffered a tragic fate halfway through.

- Before the episode ended, new cast member Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's character, Alamo, and Marshawn Lynch's G also died brutal deaths in the finale.

***This article contains spoilers about the *****Euphoria***** season 3 finale, "In God We Trust."***

Well, after a full season of letting Zendaya's Rue chase God, *Euphoria* finally sent its main character to the pearly gates in its most painful episode to date.

Rue (in addition to three other major characters) met a tragic end in Sunday night's season 3 finale — which, given what unfolded across its 90-minute runtime (and despite how HBO has touted the installment in promotional materials) could very well signal the end of the show altogether.

As messy as they might've been, season 3's many twisting plotlines converged in the series' most heartbreaking sequence to date. Picking up immediately after last week's episode ended, Rue escapes Laurie's compound and seemingly returns to safety after pulling off the double cross of the century — which, it turns out, was part of a larger *triple*-cross, as the DEA soon swoops in to arrest the drug-smuggling gang.

Martha Kelly and James Landry Hebert in 'Euphoria' season 3.

Knowing that there's no escape, Laurie makes her way to the roof of her home, ties a rope around her neck, and flings herself off the ledge, dying instantly.

It turns out Rue's fate is also sealed as a result of the raid. One week after an oblivious Maddy (Alexa Demie) made an offhanded remark to Laurie's rival crime lord and Rue's current boss, Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), about her friend expressing anxiety over working with the DEA — which Maddy thought was a construct of Rue's imagination — she unknowingly exposed her friend's treachery in the process.

Maddy's remark is enough to trigger Alamo's paranoia about his inner circle, and he gives Rue a bottle of Percocet as she heals from her wounds. He warns her that she shouldn't abuse it amid her sobriety, and also gifts her with a bag of cash and a week off of work, during which Rue travels to Ali's (Colman Domingo) apartment to recover.

'Euphoria' star Jacob Elordi filmed that frightening scene with a very real, very 'cuddly' snake

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Next, a moving sequence advances the plot while also paying tribute to the late *Euphoria* actor Angus Cloud, who died in 2023 from an accidental overdose including a mix of fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and benzodiazepines. In a news report that plays on TV, Rue and Ali learn that Fezco (Cloud), who's still alive in the series, escaped from prison. In an effort to fulfill a promise she made to her friend years prior, Rue leaves Ali's apartment to scoop up her friend, and finds herself in her old neighborhood as a result.

Climbing through the window of her childhood bedroom, Rue makes her way to the kitchen, where she finds her mother (Nika King), reading the Bible at the table. Rue calls out for her mom, who turns toward her and stretches out her hand. It becomes clear that this is a hallucination, however, as it's revealed that the Percocet pills contained fentanyl, with Rue on the brink of death as she dreams of reuniting with her parents (including her father, who died before the events of season 1).

The next morning, Ali awakens to find Rue dead on his couch, prompting him to quit his AA meetings, where he gives a final speech about societal complicity in fentanyl-related deaths.

Zendaya in 'Euphoria' season 3.

Patrick Wymore/HBO

"I'm tired of losing people," Ali says in the scene. "[I'm tired of] talking to kids, helping kids, pouring my f---ing heart and soul into kids, only to not see them get a second chance. I'm done. Only thing I know for certain is that there's a right and a wrong in this world, no in between. You're either making the world a better place, or you're making it worse. In the end, it's that f---ing simple."

The episode ends with Ali storming Alamo's strip club, where he shoots G (Marshawn Lynch) with a shotgun before Alamo overtakes him, challenging him to a western-style standoff. But, in a moment of betrayal and in pursuit of his own advancement atop his boss' lucrative operation, Alamo's loyal right-hand man, Bishop (Darrell Britt-Gibson), ultimately removes the bullets from Alamo's pistol. Ali then exacts his revenge, pumping several rounds into Alamo's chest as the antagonistic figure falls for good.

Finally, Ali travels to the Texas homestead Rue first visited in the season 3 premiere, shortly after she crossed the border from Mexico back into the United States while on a drug run for Laurie. It was here that Rue's fascination with religion began, and Ali receives a shred of closure when he dines with the same family in the home that captivated his fallen friend, and set her on a path to whatever version of righteousness is capable of existing in the twisted world of *Euphoria*.

Sydney Sweeney in 'Euphoria' season 3.

Courtesy of HBO

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Though the show has written off main characters before (Barbie Ferreira's Kat, for one), with many of its major players dead after the final two episodes of the season (Jacob Elordi's Nate was killed by a rattlesnake last week), it's difficult to imagine a scenario where *Euphoria* continues on after Sunday's installment.

For a show that already took a nearly four-year break between seasons 2 and 3, wiping out half of its primary cast in a two-week span doesn't bode well for the show's future — especially when one of the deaths marked the end of the road for not only the show's most central character, but also its biggest star (Zendaya).

** has reached out to HBO representatives for comment on the future of the show, which is now streaming in full on HBO Max.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Drama”