Sunday afternoon, Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer and Maude Apatow join an awards season Q&A for their hit show Session Euphoria, accompanying a screening of Season 2, Episode 5, “Stand Still Like a Hummingbird.”
This episode is largely seen as the breakthrough of the season, as Zendaya’s Rue runs through the night to evade cops, drug dealers and her mother trying Her attempt to take her to rehab – also reveals Cassie (Sweeney) and Nate (Jacob Elordi). Creator Sam Levinson originally wrote an entirely different version for this season, but Zendaya said the plans for the stand-alone series have always remained the same.
“This season ended much sadder, so we were thinking, ‘We can’t keep her here, she means a lot to us, ’” Zendaya told the crowd inside the Paramount Theater. “I think, as a people, we all need a little bit of hope. We need something to look forward to, some goodness and some joy, and try to find that in a very painful time,” said As they made the second season amidst the pandemic Time.
“I think it’s very important to a lot of people, but it’s also very important to me when it comes to Rue. I want people to Knowing that there is something beautiful inside of her, whether she can see it at the time or not,” the star and executive producer continued. “Then he proceeded to completely change the ending, ending in the most beautiful way and with the most incredible performance you guys put out, which blew my mind. In fact, the idea [is] that art can save lives in so many ways. So it went through many iterations, but I’m grateful for how it ended, and I’m grateful for all the stories that have been shared with me since that ending.”
The cast also discusses the arcs of each of their characters in that pivotal episode (originally airs in February) and the logistics of Rue’s run (which certainly played a role in Zendaya’s second Emmy win in September). As season three approached, the stars were also asked what each of their characters’ “euphoria” was like.
For Cassie, Sweeney says, it will be family because “she’s looking for other people’s family. She’s looking for it and her friends , she looks for it in men,” Apatow said to Lexi, “it’s freedom from yourself and your thoughts and negative thoughts, negative self-talk. Once that’s out of the way. You can be yourself potential, which I think might be hers: stop attacking yourself.”
“Each of these characters has their own in some way. Cons, and I think the product of Jules’s cons that she’s looking for is a sense of intimacy with other people and feeling affirmed in that intimacy without any judgment or real connection and security,” Schafer added of her character road. “I don’t think she’s finding it in the best way a lot of the time, but I think at the end of the day, that’s what she’s looking for—what she knows is there, Rue, but there’s something in the way; What she knows is with her dad, but something’s holding her back; what she knows probably has something to do with Elliott, but he’s a drug addict or something.”
Finally, Zendaya said for Rue that one of her wishes “is to be alive and enjoy it.” She said Rue felt like she was always drowning and wished she had a moment where she could breathe and let her head Out of the water, “a little bliss and a little joy.”
“I know she can do it, because Sam wrote it, and Sam is Lou, and he does Arrived,” continued Zendaya, who is known for battling drug addiction for her character based on the creator’s own character. “He’s proof that there’s hope for Rue and anyone like Rue, from those beautiful letters and people who reached out – I’m so thankful for those experiences when people come to me and they talk about Rue and how they relate to her Or any part of the healing journey that she was able to be a part of. For me, that’s the greatest, greatest gift I’ve ever had, and it gives me joy and purpose in what I’m doing.”
“I just wish there was a little bit of joy and that she could breathe and love without worrying about losing,” she added, teasing, “I mean She’s going to have to go through things, yeah, but you know, we’re going to get there.”
