Rue's journey hasn't been easy, but Euphoria star Zendaya believes the depiction of the character might have a positive effect on those watching the show. Currently in its second season, the HBO series stars Zendaya as Rue Bennett, a teenage drug addict struggling to find her place in the world. Along with widespread praise for its actors' performances, Euphoria has also been celebrated for the way it approaches its mature subject matter.Zendaya recently had a chat with The Hollywood Reporter about her role on the show. She addressed its themes of empathy and how they apply to Rue, and the actress explains how if fan can see that there's more to the flawed character without holding her biggest mistakes against her, then perhaps we can all do the same for each other in real life as well.
"I think the overall themes have always been empathy. This idea that it's important to understand and live a little bit of life in someone else's shoes, and have a greater sense of understanding for someone's backstory and what it is that got them to this point and who they are. And I think if we can, you know, bear with Rue, and get through the darkest points, and we can do that with her, and she's a fictional character, maybe, you know, we can do that with real people, I think. So it's really, to me, the overall compelling ideas, just the idea of we are not... you know, we're not the worst mistake we've ever made. That is not the end-all, be-all, and the definitive answer for who we are as people."
Euphoria Will Be Sticking Around For A While
Euphoria is created by Sam Levinson and based on an Israeli TV series of the same name by Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin. Along with Zendaya, the series stars Maude Apatow, Angus Cloud, Eric Dane, Alexa Demie, Jacob Elordi, Barbie Ferreira, Nika King, Storm Reid, Hunter Schafer, Algee Smith, Sydney Sweeney, Colman Domingo, Javon "Wanna" Walton, Austin Abrams, and Dominic Fike.
Zendaya has impressed critics so much with her performance as Rue that she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series, the youngest-ever performer to achieve that honor. Viewership in season 2 has also shot up by almost 100% since season 1, and HBO sees a bright future for the series. Just recently, it was announced that Euphoria had been renewed for a third season.
“Sam, Zendaya, and the entire cast and crew of Euphoria have taken Season 2 to extraordinary heights, challenging narrative convention and form, while maintaining its heart,” HBO programming EVP Francesca Orsi said in a statement. “We couldn’t be more honored to work with this gifted, wildly talented team or more excited to continue our journey with them into season 3.”
You can catch up on past episodes of Euphoria by streaming them on HBO Max. A release date hasn't yet been set for season 3.