Following the conclusion of the third and final season of Euphoria, the show’s creator, Sam Levinson, spoke about the extent of Drake’s role on the series as an executive producer.
In an interview on Popcast with Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, Levinson talked about the ending of the season, some of the themes of the show, and working with many of the show’s high-profile stars. Near the end of the interview, during which they tucked into some cilantro Doritos, Levinson was asked about what it was like to work with Drizzy on the show.
“Drake had gotten a hold of the scripts very early on in the process,” he shared around the 1-hour-10-minute point of the podcast. “This is when HBO was, you know, they still weren’t sure about the show. We were pushing some boundaries. He said, ‘I want to come on as a producer, I want to come on as an EP.’ He brought a level of confidence to HBO that I will forever be grateful for. I think that they couldn’t believe that Drake was coming on.”
He explained that Drake was “more involved in promotional and marketing aspects” of the show, rather than any big creative decisions. “You need your champions to give other people confidence, and he was a champion,” Levinson added.
During the same interview, Levinson confirmed that the Zendaya-led series would be ending with the movie-length finale of Season 3, which aired on Sunday (May 31). The show went out with a touching tribute to the late Angus Cloud and a shocking and heartbreaking death of one of the lead characters.
“In terms of the story that we set out to tell, which is a story about addiction and its consequences, this feels like the end to me,” Levinson said. “It was such a fulfilling journey in terms of this cast, the crew, what we were able to accomplish. I mean, there are thousands of things that have to go right in order to make something like this. I’m just immensely proud of the work we did, the story we told. It’s a tragic one in the end, but it’s also the truth. If you are experimenting or taking drugs today, it’s very possible it’ll kill you. I think it was a way of honoring Angus and saying a prayer for the future.”
