A Shocked Ending: What Happened to Nate in Euphoria

Euphoria’s third season has turned the teen drama into a hard‑edge thriller, ending with the brutal death of Nate Jacobs. In episode seven, “Rain or Shine, ” Nate is buried in a wooden coffin as payback for a debt owed to a mob‑style businessman named Naz. Cassie Howard, his wife, must raise one million dollars in three days or risk seeing Nate die of dehydration. A rattlesnake slips into the coffin’s airhole, and when Cassie finally digs him out, Nate’s body is bloated, purple, and surrounded by the snake. The scene feels like a horror movie set in a high school. Nate first appeared on the show as a violent, manipulative athlete. In season one he strangled his girlfriend, blackmailed classmates, and plotted to send an innocent man to prison—all without consequences. The third season jumps five years forward, forcing the characters into adulthood and finally confronting Nate with justice. Showrunner Sam Levinson said he wanted viewers to feel both satisfied and uneasy, hoping the shock would make people question whether Nate deserved his fate.

Levinson’s approach is to push boundaries. He uses practical effects, even real rattlesnakes on set—though the snakes in Nate’s coffin were actually a boa with a fake rattler. The scene was designed to be terrifying, and the actors felt it as such. Nate’s actor, Jacob Elordi, has grown into a celebrity after roles in films like “Saltburn” and “Wuthering Heights. ” He praised the show for letting him explore a character full of dark choices and stated that Euphoria has shaped his career. The finale, airing May 31, will leave the characters in precarious positions. Crime lords and drug dealers loom over them, suggesting that Nate’s death might be just the beginning of a series of violent outcomes. Levinson compares the world to a Wild West, where people can create something for themselves but must face real consequences.

Actions