In a ‘Shocking’ <em>Euphoria</em> Finale, Jessica Treska Plays an Unexpectedly Meaningful Role

Spoilers below.

When the 23-year-old actress Jessica Treska first auditioned for a role in Euphoria season 3, as a “super religious farm girl,” she assumed it would be an insignificant part—one liable to be left on the cutting room floor by the time the season had wrapped. She had little sense that Daisy Miller “was really connected to the storyline at all,” given what Treska knew of creator Sam Levinson’s HBO drama as a viewer: Both the show’s unabashedly in-your-face visuals—particularly in the realms of sex, drugs, and general debauchery—and its plot seemed at odds with Daisy’s simple off-the-grid upbringing on a homestead in Texas. As Treska would later understand, this was precisely the point.

The Euphoria season 3 premiere opens with Zendaya’s Rue Bennett as a recovering addict who, five years post-high school, is running fentanyl across the U.S.-Mexico border to pay off her debts to a drug queenpin. During one of these numerous trips, Rue stumbles upon the Miller family homestead, and instead of questioning her trespassing, they welcome her with food and shelter. Rue shares dinner with the Millers; she prays with them at their kitchen table; she develops a connection with Daisy, who seems to embody a care and contentment Rue herself has found elusive. She later describes the Millers as “the happiest people I’ve ever met in my life,” and she considers, perhaps, that their peace might have something to do with their faith. And though she eventually returns home to Los Angeles, Rue spends the remainder of the season attempting, at last, to surrender to God.

In the 12-step journey frequently used in recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, the third step typically reads as follows: “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” As Levinson has referenced in interviews, it was this third step from which he drew Rue’s final arc: a story that ends in tragedy but not, necessarily, in despair.

The season 3 finale concludes with Rue’s death, the result of a fentanyl overdose. It’s a devastating turn of events in the wake of her seasons-long recovery journey, made all the more heart-wrenching when her sponsor, Ali (Colman Domingo), returns to the Miller farm in Rue’s stead. There, he delivers the news of her loss—“she’s in a better place”—to Daisy and her father. The camera settles on Daisy’s face as she digests what has happened, the magnitude and finality of a young woman’s death.

Later, Ali sits at the same dinner table where Rue once felt so at home, and Mr. Miller invites him to lead the family in prayer. As the rest of the group shut their eyes and bow their heads to Ali’s words, Daisy seems to sense a change in the room. She turns to look at Ali, who opens his own eyes as he proclaims, “Amen,” and then, “Thank you, Rue.” Daisy follows his gaze to behold the supposedly empty chair at the opposite end of the table, where the camera soon reveals Rue herself seated amongst them.

“She’s happy,” Treska says of this moment. “She’s finally at peace. Rue is now the happy one at the table; she’s made it home.”

Treska understood how “pivotal” her Euphoria season 3 scenes were going to be.

Treska, who began her acting career when she was scouted at a shopping mall at age 9, has appeared in projects including the HBO drama Sharp Objects and the NBC comedy Good Girls, “but only in the past few years have I really been a part of anything notable,” she says. “Obviously, [Euphoria] has been huge and the biggest project that I’ve ever been a part of. Being a part of this show, in this way, is literally my dream role—and something that I’m so proud of.”

Ahead, Treska explains how and why she was “shocked” while filming the finale; how audiences are meant to interpret the ending itself; and the essential role that faith plays in season 3’s parting message.

I have never worked on a show that is more under wraps than this. I did not get the full scripts to anything. All I knew was what was in front of me and the scene that we were doing [at the time]. But Sam made sure that I understood the importance of what Daisy means for Rue. Even when you don’t see Daisy on-screen, Rue is thinking about her interaction with Daisy throughout the show—it leaves a real mark on her. And Rue leaves a real mark on Daisy.

So I understood how pivotal it was going to be. The producers and Sam definitely let me know that we needed Daisy to feel grounded and to be the antithesis of everything else we’re seeing in the show. So I really tried to be that. I tried to be this girl that is completely untouched by the modern world, by society, by culture, and all of these devilish desires that Rue and everyone else in the show want.

I was shocked. Again, it was nothing like what I had expected Euphoria to put out there. But I was really happy with it because it resonates with me personally, and it resonates with Sam personally.

For me to be able to play a role in the show that brings the central character to God amidst all of the tragedy and evil that she’s been a part of was really special for me and for Sam, I think. We connected over that, too, because I believe in God. I believe in Rue coming around to what gives her true happiness. So it was really, honestly, special for me to play that role in this show.

“It was really, honestly, special for me to play that role in this show,” Treska says of portraying Daisy.

For the premiere episode, I knew what was happening. I had the script; I had the context. But for the last episode, I received a script, and it was actually not what we ended up shooting.

It was a closed set. I was sitting there at the dinner table for that final scene, the camera was pointed right at my face, and Sam comes to me and says in my ear—no one else at the table can hear it—“What was written on the page is not what’s actually going to be said. You need to react to what’s going on [in the moment]. Just be Daisy.” I had no idea what was going to be said.

So, in that scene, I’m processing that Rue has passed in real time. Which made it so real. I had no idea what was going on until the camera was on me.

It didn’t even feel like I was acting; it felt like I was taking it all in. And we cut and [Levinson] was like, “That was totally the right approach. That’s what we wanted it to be. We’re going to do that a bunch of times.” So then we did that a bunch of times: different angles, directions, whatever. But yeah, it was a surreal experience.

I think it’s a few things. First of all, it’s the first time that someone sees Rue without all the strings attached. She’s not Rue with her past or with the things that she’s involved with. She doesn’t tell [the Millers] any of that. All Daisy sees is her humor, her kindness. So I think it’s like a fresh start for Rue. And I think it leaves her wanting that fresh start on a grander scale, which is through redemption, through God.

But I also think [the reason] why she connects with Daisy is because she realizes that there’s no difference between them. They’re both young women, both a product of the cards that they were dealt, and Rue easily could have been in Daisy’s situation and had the life that Daisy has. So I think maybe she starts to forgive herself, too, because she realizes, I’m not evil. I’m really just a product of what I was dealt. And I didn’t handle it perfectly, but I have to give myself grace. And this is a life that I could live one day: real happiness and joy. The things that Rue sees in her world of manipulation and drugs and hypersexualization, whatever, all of that is an easy fix, but this is real happiness. This is real joy and peace and believing in something greater than yourself.

Treska says that she was reacting to the finale scenes “in real time” while shooting them.

It did not come up at all, honestly. It was not a conversation on set, really, at all. But I do see what you’re saying. There is this association of religion—and that way of life, on a farm in Texas—with political views. But I think [Daisy’s story] was removed from that. I don’t think it being in Texas on a farm has much to do with [the meaning of the finale], aside from it being as far away as humanly possible from the society that’s kind of poisoned Rue. I don’t think it’s meant to play a role [in audience’s interpretations], and I don’t think it should. I think people will interpret it that way, but I really don’t think they should. It is about getting away from the noise and focusing on your family and God. That’s what it’s meant to be.

And it’s not even necessarily [only] about God, but about something that’s greater than yourself. The biggest evil that takes over all of these characters is that they’re seeking something for themselves that’s either materialistic or simply doesn’t matter at the end of the day. You’re not going to be happy if you live for yourself. There’s always something more you could have: more fame, more money, more relationships. [The homestead] is just meant to take away all of that and [communicate] that you will never be happy unless there’s one thing outside of yourself that you’re living for.

I think she’s living for God and her family. I think that’s literally all she knows. She’s curious about the rest of the world, of course. How could you not be? That’s why Rue and Daisy are both interested in each other. I don’t think Daisy knows what’s out there, or what she could want outside of what’s immediately in front of her, but I think that is the beauty of it, and that’s what Rue envies so badly. You know that there’s this huge world out there, and there are so many things that you can chase and pursue, but it’s just going to drain you. You have to narrow that down to a few things that matter to you, and that’s how you can finally find peace. That’s what Rue wants.

Maybe Daisy’s curious about the rest of the world, but I do think at the time we see her, her priorities are there on the farm. She’s [been] waiting for Rue to come back for months. Rue left a real impact on her; it’s not often that she gets to experience something like that, because there’s only so much for her on that farm. She knows the minute a car drives up, maybe that’s Rue.

Before Euphoria, Treska had appeared in HBO’s Sharp Objects and NBC’s Good Girls.

It was totally shocking to me, of course. But I think it made a lot more sense when I was talking to Sam, because it is his story. And he had the attention of the whole world behind this show; he had the opportunity to make an impact with what mattered to him. He still stayed true to the show, but he was able to weave in this personal life change that he’s had. And, of course, it pays homage to Angus Cloud, too. That’s something Sam talked about: just wanting to give peace at the end of the road, to give these characters peace.

It means the world, honestly. It’s not something I ever expected to be able to do in this industry: to, on such a large scale, represent faith. It is so beautiful, too, because of course I believe in God, but I don’t live like Daisy. We are complete opposites. And Rue is a complete opposite from me and from Daisy. [It’s beautiful] that faith can touch so many people and manifest in so many different ways, but still have the same impact of giving you real, true, deep peace in this life, no matter what it throws at you.

I think it was trying to make a statement about the culture that we live in and how toxic it is. I think that introducing Daisy and the farm life shows this self-awareness of the show—because, of course, people think of Euphoria as this outlandish show, but the show and Sam know what they’re doing. They know that it’s extreme. They know that it’s one end of the spectrum—and now they’re showing the other end. They’re trying to show the worst of what this [culture] can actually do to people: There are lives that have been taken from it.

Social media, materialism, pornography, and all of that, it is addicting, but it will break you. It can give you a fix; it can make you happy for now. It can give you the things you want in the short term, but at the end of the day, we’re all going to meet the same fate, and those things are not going to heal your soul like faith would.

In following Rue’s story for three seasons now, you see it come to her and you see this peace that she’s able to find—even in death, even in such a tragic ending, she’s finally free and happy. How could you not be curious about what led her there, letting yourself believe in something greater? Even if it sounds crazy and ridiculous, just try it—because maybe it can change your life.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

“In following Rue’s story for three seasons now, you see it come to her and you see this peace that she’s able to find,” Treska says.

Styled by Branden Ruiz; hair by Aurelien Bru; makeup by Robert Bryan.