A star from this season of Euphoria has claimed that the show features ‘uncomfortable truths’ that some viewers are choosing ‘not to be aware of’.
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, 58, plays menacing cowboy kingpin Alamo Brown in Sam Levinson’s drama about a group of high school students in California navigating adulthood.
Best known for his roles in Lost and Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, Adewale has been a central presence in the HBO series that has come under fire in recent weeks for its graphic and sexual content.
However, speaking to Metro, the Mummy Returns star has said that the show’s creator Sam is ‘tapping into reality’ and ‘bringing awareness to important issues’.
‘The show seems to have become the voice of Gen Z and it talks about issues that they confront in their daily life,’ the actor told us.
‘I think it’s validated a lot of the experiences they have and sometimes experiences that as adults, we’re not even too aware of. Even with mental health and the use of fentanyl, the drug, which has taken so many lives including a cast member on the show [Angus Cloud died of an accidental overdose in 2023].
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‘It doesn’t hold back. There’s no tiptoeing around the issues. The veneer is taken off, and I think that’s important, because it brings awareness in the medium of entertainment.’
Asked what he made of viewers claiming that the show has ‘gone too far’, Adewale continued: ‘Unfortunately, we live in a world that has elements to it that are very distasteful, and we can bury our heads in the sand and sit in our cosy houses, but these things are reality.’
‘There’s the young presenter in America whose mother got kidnapped. Charlie Kirk got shot in public. Apparently there’s approximately 70,000 people that die of fentanyl… These things happen in life.
What have fans been saying about Euphoria?
‘Sam Levison’s done a lot of research…. [it’s] not just created out of nowhere. So you are tapping into a reality that maybe is uncomfortable and people choose not to want to see or be aware of.’ ‘
The 58-year-old added that when it comes to talking about life and death ‘you can never go too far in that regard’.
Picking up the action five years after the end of series two, the third season of Euphoria sees Nate (Jacob Elordi) struggle as a construction business while Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) flirts with the idea of becoming an OnlyFans star.
Jules (Hunter Schafer), meanwhile, works as a high-profile escort as Lexi (Maude Apatow) tries out a career in the TV industry.
Rue (Zendaya), however, briefly works as a drug mule across the Mexican border before she lands a job for strip club owner Alamo.
Describing the challenge of playing the brutal Alamo, Adewale said: ‘Having to be this dark and kind of disturbingly disgusting, it was tough.
‘The subject matter and the dark nature of the tone… can be uncomfortable.’
So far this season, viewers have been left ‘sickened’ on multiple occasions by dog humiliation rituals, Nazi symbols and live burials.
Ahead of the show’s final episode airing on Sunday in America, and Monday in the UK, Adewale hinted at what viewers might be able to expect.
‘Let’s just put it this way, Alamo Brown is there to usher in a rude awakening for this younger generation of characters,’ he said.
‘They’re no longer in high school and some of them have dabbled on the other side of the law, and when you do that, there are, some very strict consequences.
‘I think the audience can really expect things to see things accelerate in not such a pleasant way. The characters are going to have to face those consequences in the world of Mr Brown.’
The season finale of Euphoria premieres on HBO Max, Sky Atlantic and NOW at 2am on Monday 1 June 2026.
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