Euphoria Season 3 Completely Wasted One Major Character – And We’re Furious – SlashFilm

Content warning: This article contains discussions of addiction.

Don’t make any weird, subtext-filled paintings of your past lovers if you haven’t watched “In God We Trust,” the series finale of “Euphoria.” Spoilers for the entire season and series ahead!

According to showrunner and creator Sam Levinson, the third season of “Euphoria” is the teen drama’s final outing. (As someone who demanded “Euphoria” end with its third season right here at /Film, I feel vindicated.) Two main characters — Jacob Elordi’s Nate Jacobs and Zendaya’s Rue Bennett — are now dead, and everyone else is just moving on. So, what about Jules Vaughn, another main character played throughout all three seasons by Hunter Schafer?

That’s a great question. What about Jules? Schafer’s character — who, like Schafer herself, is a young transgender woman trying to find her place in the world — is completely abandoned in the third season of “Euphoria.” This is frustrating for a handful of reasons; not only is Schafer an extremely talented performer who’s shown off her chops in projects like “Cuckoo,” “Mother Mary,” and “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” but Jules was, at least initially, a genuinely well-drawn character. (A rare W for Levinson, if we’re being honest.) As a reward, she gets absolutely nothing to do during Season 3.

If you think I’m exaggerating, I’m begging you: go watch the season. Jules does nothing of importance; in fact, we barely see her outside of a luxury apartment that’s apparently owned by her benefactor Ellis (“True Blood” alum Sam Trammell), where she spends her days painting. The one storyline she does get in Season 3 of “Euphoria,” aside from her twisted arrangement with Ellis, goes absolutely nowhere. This, obviously, sucks. Jules was a great character on “Euphoria,” and Levinson abandoned her for the show’s swan song.

If you really think about it, Jules Vaughn is the catalyst for most of what unfolds on “Euphoria” — because when she transfers to East Highland High School, she becomes an object of fascination for both Rue and Nate. Rue, fresh out of a rehabilitation facility for an addiction to painkillers and opioids that she developed after her father’s death, explores the boundaries of her sexuality with Rue. Nate does something similar, but in a distinctly sinister way … by messaging Jules under a pseudonym and forming a romantic connection with her. Amidst all of this, Jules, also exploring the boundaries of her sexuality, solicits sexual encounters with older men on the Internet — and in the show’s very first episode, we see that one of her partners is Nate’s married father Cal Jacobs (the late Eric Dane).

Throughout the first two seasons of “Euphoria,” Jules does mostly exist to orbit around Rue … but she also gets powerful storylines of her own, including the Season 1 episode “Shook Ones Pt. II,” which explores Jules’ backstory and her difficult journey as a child with gender dysphoria. This is explored even further in the standalone special “F*** Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob,” an episode written by Sam Levinson with Hunter Schafer that uses some of Schafer’s real experiences from her own childhood, during which she also experienced gender dysphoria. (Between Seasons 1 and 2, “Euphoria” aired two specials: this, and Rue’s story, “Trouble Don’t Last Always.”) 

“F*** Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob” shows Jules seeking therapy from Dr. Mardy Nichols (the always welcome Lauren Weedman) as she strongly considers stopping her hormone therapy, and it’s a deeply emotional and beautiful showcase for Jules and Schafer. Unfortunately, there’s nothing like this in Season 3.

It’s frustrating, depressing, and downright wrong that one of the most impactful and interesting characters in all of “Euphoria” got so drastically sidelined during the show’s third and final season. Yes, she got to close the loop on her storyline with Cal during Nate’s wedding (and look, frankly, fabulous in the process), but after that? Nothing. The most egregious “plot” given to Jules in Season 3 of “Euphoria” involves her painting, yet it amounts to nothing at all.

Here’s how it goes. When Lexi Howard (Maude Apatow) calls Jules to ask her to create an original art piece that’ll hang in the background of the soap opera where Lexi works as an assistant to the powerful Patty Lance (Sharon Stone), Jules agrees. She heads to set, where she’s told to create her take on Georges Seurat’s neo-impressionist masterpiece “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” Jules is told to do whatever she wants, but when she repaints the picture and adds crude genitalia, she’s told that the painting can’t hang on a network TV show. (Well … duh?!) Jules destroys the painting, and that’s it. The fallout, even for Lexi, is minimal. Why did this plotline even happen?

Without it, Jules would have done even less (her other big Season 3 moments involve her slapping Rue and letting Ellis wrap her in plastic wrap like an old sandwich), but it’s all just infuriating, to be honest, and Jules deserved better. “Euphoria” is streaming in its entirety on HBO Max now.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).