Sam Levinson Details Nate Jacobs' Episode 7 Death by Rattlesnake in Euphoria Season 3
Updated
Updated · Esquire · May 25
Sam Levinson Details Nate Jacobs' Episode 7 Death by Rattlesnake in Euphoria Season 3
4 articles · Updated · Esquire · May 25
Episode 7 kills off Nate Jacobs in a coffin-and-rattlesnake sequence that creator Sam Levinson said was designed to give viewers the justice they wanted while making it so horrific they would question it.
Levinson said he decided early that Jacob Elordi’s character would die this season, then softened Nate with flashes of humanity so the comeuppance would land with more moral unease.
Real rattlesnakes were used for parts of the shoot near Lancaster, while a non-venomous stand-in was used in coffin shots; Levinson said the nearest hospital was 1.5 hours away despite a roughly 1-hour window after a bite.
The death scene grew from an earlier buried-alive concept into a modern-Western-horror set piece, part of a season Levinson says explores God, family, America and life without a safety net.
With episode 8 due next week, Levinson warned fans that the finale will be hard to avoid online if they do not watch it live.
Did Nate Jacobs' gruesome death critique audience desires or just deliver gratuitous shock value?
With its main villain gone, how will Euphoria's 'Wild West' theme deliver justice for its other characters?
Does killing a villain so brutally serve justice, or does it just blur the line between hero and monster?