Spoiler alert: This interview contains plot details from “Euphoria” season 3, episode 2.
“Euphoria” Season 3 gave Rue (Zendaya) a new friend and nemesis. Alamo, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, rescues Lou, a strip club mogul who spends his life in debt to Laurie (Martha Kelly), but not before Lou nearly kills her by putting an apple on her head and shooting her.
When Alamo calls Rory to tell him that he is taking Lou away from her as punishment for accidentally selling drugs laced with fentanyl, Rory and his crew don’t like it. One of her cronies calls Alamo the “N-word” and he gets upset, but he doesn’t really get upset until Laurie calls him a pig. He spent the rest of the episode obsessing over that insult, feeling truly hurt.
Towards the end of episode 2, Laurie and her crew discover a giant live pig in their home. They didn’t know how it got there until they saw the Texas flag coming in. The flag had the words “Remember the Alamo” engraved on it.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson spoke to Variety about whether God or the devil brought Lou and the Alamo together, and what it means to be a pig.
This season is built around the third step in the 12-step addiction recovery process: surrender to a higher power. That theme is particularly present in the Alamo storyline, as Lou says he believes God brought them together. Sam, you said that these ideas about faith came to you after the death of Angus Cloud. How did that tragedy affect your writing process?
Sam Levinson: Losing Angus was a tragedy. I spent a lot of time making sure he was healthy and when he passed away I was so angry. He was one of 70,000 people who died from fentanyl overdose in this country that year. There are many questions that come to mind as an individual who has loved and lost someone. What exactly does this mean? What does this mean? And I think death gives meaning to life. You will see how important the small moments are. The way you interact, do good deeds, and talk to people around you. You will realize how precious life is.
And with “Euphoria,” I thought, “How do I tell a story about that? How do I tell a story about what it means to be alive and to have the freedom to choose the path I want to take, and the consequences that come with that?” In many ways, this season was a tribute to Angus and an exploration of what the greater meaning of life is. And I think it boils down to gratitude. We must have gratitude for the small moments, the tragedies and the beautiful parts of life. That became the backbone of the theme.
Adewale, how did these themes resonate with you as you stepped into the character of Alamo?
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaye: That character was Sam’s brainchild, and Sam’s vision was inspired by Sergio Leone’s Western iconography and some of those iconic movie characters. Jim Brown, Eli Wallach, Woody Strode. We talked about creating a character that would emulate them and be a larger-than-life figure, rooted in Western everyday culture. He wanted someone who was practical, but someone who was inspired by the American Dream. The dream of freedom, the dream of possibility, the dream of being able to be who you are, and as Sam said, the consequences that come with it.
I’ve also done a lot of research on cowboy culture, starting with its namesake, slavery. Slaves were called “boys,” and when they herded cattle, they were called “cowboys.” Before it became popular through Hollywood. It was interesting to note where he came from and how he lifted himself out of himself to build what he considered an empire. It’s really about freedom by any means necessary. As a black man in America, he wholeheartedly believes in the concept of the American Dream. If you try hard enough legally, or in his case on the other side of the law, you can achieve and become yourself, but whatever choices you make come with consequences.
And it’s that rude awakening that he represents in his young characters who drop out of high school, some of whom dabble in the darker side of life. His relationship with Lou is a beautiful dance because they are from different generations. He’s a traditionalist in many ways, a bit of a cowboy philosopher, and ruthless in how he built his empire in strip clubs. He has something to teach her. It’s like a master-student relationship, albeit twisted and dark. And she has something to teach and offer him as she tries to find her way in life. He has an entrepreneurial spirit and sees opportunity there. This is the generation that came from social media and OnlyFans, and he’s always been ahead of the curve. He understands that this could become a hallmark of his empire and seeks to assess how he can harness the talents of his people for his own purposes.
And I think he’s giving her grace because he sees elements of himself in her. ambition. smart people. She is the only woman he allows into his world and gets attention because she has that smile and knowledge and potential, which he clearly intends to use for his own purposes. And let’s see who wins in that dance. He tests and shatters the naivety of this young generation at every turn.
Alamo knows he is taking a risk by letting Lou into his world. Sam, what were you trying to accomplish by writing about their relationship?
Levinson: The Alamo represents, in her mind, a path to a better place than Laurie’s world. Laurie’s world is dark and dirty, tied to her past and debts. The Alamo represents freedom for her. But at the same time, it is not pure freedom because it is tied to desire. The Alamo is clearly very smart. He is a mentor and a fierce father figure to Lou, but he can sometimes get caught up in his own ego and emotions. The same applies to Rue. It looks clean and shiny on the surface, but the deeper you go, the darker it becomes.
I love the scenes between the two of them. Adewale brings a methodical finesse to the character. It’s very lively, right down to the way he sits. He’s intimidating on screen, really intimidating. And Lou – and Z is like this in real life – she’s a very easy-going person. So there’s a great contrast between these characters and as an audience you’re like, “Oh, okay, they get along, hmm.” And you think, “But when will things change?” Although they are completely different, they share some kind of unique connection with each other. And I like that she thinks God brought them together, and Alamo is a little skeptical about it, but I think as the story progresses he starts to believe it’s true, too.
Let’s talk about Raleigh’s relationship with the Alamo. He was deeply hurt when she called him a pig. That’s worse than the n-word to him. What is happening in those scenes?
Levinson: I thought it would be interesting to play around with the racial relationships between these two crew members. There’s this built-in hostility. The pig’s comment seemed like an interesting entry point into this man’s psyche. There’s something about him that he can’t get over. He doesn’t understand why she calls him that. Do you mean his weight? Is it because he is greedy? It reveals his insecurities and allows us to see just how human he really is. Every one of us has something that sticks in our minds, even though it may seem insignificant. It’s a way of toying with the absurdity of racial dynamics, and these misconceptions create a larger problem.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje: As a man who rose on his own two feet after slavery to become emperor of an empire, it was interesting that the word “pig” was worse to Alamo than the n-word. For me, it’s about trying to figure out why, and Sam gave me license in this scene. In doing so, it was like, “Why does this cause him trauma? Well, pigs are animals that eat their own feces. And here I am, Emperor, and she calls me a pig.” It caused all of his anxiety.
By the way, this season allows us to take a deep dive into what made the Alamo what it is today. And in this relationship with Rory, he feels like Rory has nothing but gratitude for him because Rory brought her to the game, and yet this ungrateful person is now calling him words that inspire his sense of worth. He says to his men, “A pig is one who eats his own. Do I look like a man who would do that? Look at me!” It reminds him that he was a little boy trying to justify himself, and even though he did that, the person he respects the least and whom he considers a pig calls him a pig. This is a great way to expose the layers of anxiety, paranoia, and trauma of the Alamo, its strangeness.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
