“Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson focused much of the HBO series’ third season around Fezco, the character played by Angus Cloud, before the actor’s death from a fentanyl overdose in July 2023.
In an interview with the New York Times, Levinson spoke about a version of Season 3 that he wrote before the WGA strike began in May 2023. “Angus was the backbone of that season. I used to even talk to him about it because I wanted him to stay clean,” he said. “So I would invite him over and I’d tell him what the plans were for the character. I’d say, look, he’s been in prison for a few years, so you’ve got to get that yoked prison body. Because I wanted him to start working out and taking care of himself.”
Levinson also revealed that in his original scripts for Season 1, Fez died at the end, but he felt he “couldn’t do it,” saying that Cloud “needed something to look forward to or else he might get lost in the world.”
“And then when I was writing Season 2 and I got to the end, I thought, OK, I’m gonna have to do it this time: Fezco’s gonna die,” Levinson continued. “And as we got closer, I just couldn’t do it, especially with everything we’d gone through. I wanted him to have something to hold onto, a tangible goal for the future.”
At the red carpet premiere for Season 3, Levinson spoke to Variety about Cloud’s death. “Losing Angus was really hard for us as a production. I loved him very deeply,” he said. “I fought hard to keep them clean.” In the version of the the season that will premiere on Sunday, Levinson aimed to “keep [Cloud] alive” in the story, and wrote the episodes in honor of him.
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