It's The End Of An Era For Euphoria

Jul 11, 2026 - 19:05

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Rue in an interrogation room in Euphoria

Published Jul 11, 2026, 11:45 AM EDT

Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock.

On May 31, Euphoria went out not with a bang, but a whimper. For a brief moment, Euphoria’s season 3 finale felt as beautiful and passionate and artful as the previous seasons, when Rue Bennett died of an overdose, but then it took a really bizarre turn. In its last 20 minutes, after bidding a tearful farewell to its central character, Euphoria’s finale suddenly morphed into a stealth remake of Rolling Thunder, as Rue’s sponsor Ali donned his military garb, sawed off a shotgun, and went buck wild at Alamo’s strip club.

By the end, Euphoria had completely lost the plot. It had always been style over substance, and it had always been more popular with audiences than critics. But in season 3, it was all style, no substance, and it didn’t even feel like the same show anymore — this teen soap opera about messy high school drama suddenly became a gritty neo-western about pimps and loan sharks and cartel hitmen — so the audience abandoned it along with the critics.

But even in Euphoria season 3’s lowest points, between the diarrhea-licking scene and the umpteenth time Nate was beaten to a pulp, Zendaya always shined as Rue. Zendaya’s lead performance has always been the best part of the show — she’s always brought way more depth and nuance to Rue than Sam Levinson’s writing ever did — and that continued to be the case when the show fell off a cliff. Euphoria’s third season received dismal reviews from critics, but Zendaya was immune to that critical panning.

When the 2026 Emmy nominations were announced, no one expected Euphoria to take home any nominations, and it ultimately wasn’t nominated in any categories — except for one. Zendaya has scored another nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Rue, and she’s now three for three on Euphoria Emmy nominations.

Zendaya Just Scored Euphoria's Last Ever Emmy Nomination

Given just how abysmal the final season of Euphoria was, I didn’t expect it to get any nominations at the Emmys. In fact, if there was a TV equivalent of the Razzies, I would expect it to sweep those awards instead. But it actually got a few nominations in the Creative Arts categories — for cinematography, production design, makeup and hairstyling, editing, and Colman Domingo’s incredible guest performance — and even scored one Primetime Emmy nomination: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Zendaya.

Not only has Zendaya been nominated for every single season of Euphoria; she’s also won every single year. In season 1, Outstanding Lead Actress was the only nomination that Euphoria got, and Zendaya beat out Olivia Colman and Sandra Oh to take home the gold. Then, in season 2, when Euphoria was also nominated for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress for Sydney Sweeney, Zendaya won Outstanding Lead Actress again, beating out Reese Witherspoon, Laura Linney, and Sandra Oh again.

With her latest nomination, Zendaya could be coming for the hat trick: three Emmy wins in three seasons. She faces some stiff competition from her fellow nominees, but she could be in with a chance. Rhea Seehorn is long overdue for an Emmy win, after six seasons’ worth of snubs on Better Call Saul, and she was staggeringly brilliant in Pluribus. But I could see the Academy voters going for Zendaya just to round things off, and to give her one last pat on the back as she leaves the best role of her career behind.

Euphoria’s third season was an unmitigated disaster, and its final episode was a miserable mishandling of what was once such a strong, powerful, compelling narrative. But Zendaya carried that show to the finish line, in spite of Levinson’s writing, and she deserves recognition for that.