Euphoria May Be Over, But Chloe Cherry Isn’t Saying Goodbye to Faye

[This story contains spoilers for the Euphoria series finale, titled “In God We Trust.”]

Chloe Cherry has gone on quite a ride with Euphoria. The Pennsylvania native made her TV acting debut on the HBO hit as Faye, the adrift addict who bonds with Fezco (the late Angus Cloud) and later Rue (Zendaya), after previously establishing herself in adult films, with creator Sam Levinson casting her directly. She came in unsure how she’d fare among the cast’s heavy hitters, but eager to learn; years later, with the show officially concluded, she tells The Hollywood Reporter the experience completely changed her life.

The series finale picked up right where the previous episode left off, with Faye screaming and thereby outing Rue’s delicate exit plan, and then escaping herself alongside her boyfriend-dealer Wayne (Toby Wallace). In an episode filled with tragic endings for various characters, including Rue herself, Faye sees some kind of hope on the horizon. THR talked about that and much more with Cherry. 

What surprised you the most about the finale?

I was really surprised that Ali was the one who found Rue dead. It was so sad as a Euphoria fan; that just made me start bawling when Ali finds Rue and we see everything that he goes through emotionally. Colman [Domingo’s] acting was absolutely incredible, and it was very emotionally moving. That surprised me the most — that Ali comes in in the end and saves Rue because, from the very beginning when we first meet Ali, you’re really hoping that he can help her, and he is always trying to. It felt like in the end, Rue kind of lived on through Ali when he tried to avenge her death. It felt like a form of poetic justice at the end to see Ali save the day.

You watched it last night. What were the conditions of your screening?

I was at my friend’s house and he has a really big TV. Some of my other friends were there and we were watching it and it was just nice. I was hanging out with some of my close friends that I’ve known for years, that I know very well, and I was crying the whole episode. It was just nice to have very good friends there to talk about it with right away, and why it made me so emotional and all the layers of everything that I was feeling.

Was there anything personal in that emotion for you?

Yes, absolutely. Seeing Angus [Cloud] on screen and also realizing that part of this “finding God” storyline that Rue has is partially inspired by the actuality of making this show and how people have passed — when someone you love passes, I find those are the times that I search for God. The first thing you want to imagine is that you’ll see them again one day in a better place or that they’re somewhere in a better place. I really related to having to almost find some sort of higher power within myself to accept the losses that I’ve had, not only with the show but throughout my whole life. It just reminds me of how, when our brains really are open to spirituality, there’s a force so much stronger than us.

I was thinking about those themes taking up more and more space over the course of the season. It’d hit you as you’re playing it, right? 

Yes, knowing not only how much of a journey it was for the characters, but how much of a journey it was for all of us as a cast and crew, as people — how much we went through and how much it changed us. For me at least, it took up my entire 20s. I had just turned 22 when I was cast on the show and I’m about to turn 29, so it’s what I did with my whole entire 20s. It’s hard to say goodbye to the end of a chapter that I really loved.

How did Euphoria change you?

It made me perceive myself in a completely new way. I was, for the first time in my life, appreciated for my mind. I was appreciated for being funny. I was appreciated for coming up with lines. It was the first time in my whole life that I felt appreciation for my brain and not just everything being about, I don’t know — it was so great for me to go through this transformation. To see that I can do things. I did so poorly when I was in school and then I was so lost in life and never knew if I could figure it out. To have somebody, I guess anyone, notice my talents and say that I’m funny and that I can do these stunts and all this acting, it was really incredible for me. It completely changed my life trajectory forever to realize that I actually am smart enough to do things. It just makes me realize it’s never too late to be what you might’ve been.

You’ve talked about how you were surprised Sam even reached out to you when this whole journey started. Did you find that you gained confidence over time?

That’s absolutely the word, yes. Sam Levinson’s trust in me and belief in me instilled an immense amount of confidence into me. That definitely changed me forever. A true level of actual confidence in my heart and soul that I’m just so grateful for.

What did you feel most connected to in Faye over the course of the show?

Faye is not the person who’s looking to have a million friends. In the beginning, she thought Rue was her best friend in the world and always had her back, but then when she finds out Rue is doing other stuff and she gets freaked out by Rue, that’s when she says the thing of, “Why am I the only one that’s loyal?” That’s the biggest thing with Faye — she’s always looking for somebody that she can be extremely close with, because again, she doesn’t have the family to go back to. She doesn’t have any siblings or parents or anything, and her last boyfriend was killed. She turns to Rue as being her best friend and almost family to her, and that’s what Faye is in search of: deep, deep close bonds with people. She really likes to go deep in her personal relationships, and that I relate to.

Sam has spoken a lot about this season as a portrait of modern life, and I think what you’re describing in Faye is reflective of so many right now — that yearning to feel closer to people, to have community, and struggle with isolation. 

I will watch so many YouTube video essays with people talking about this thing, that friendship, and I swear it’s social media — these things have destroyed modern friendship. I find that in my personal life that I am constantly looking for somebody that I can be really, really close with, where we are the number one person in each other’s lives, but it’s so hard to find that. It feels like nowadays people will trade close friendships to have somebody who’s a work contact or somebody that they think will look really cool if they’re hanging out with them. There’s just so many things beyond human connection that people are more attracted to now. Just being connected with another human is crazy.

You mentioned Faye feeling betrayed by Rue. That moment is what sets the whole finale and its events into motion. What did you make of that? How did you want to play it?

“I’m doing all these things for everyone, but no one’s ever thinking about me, but I’m always trying to think about everybody else. Why does no one think about me? Why does nobody care about me? Why am I just a pawn in fucking everybody’s game?” That’s where she completely flipped a switch, and she was just like, “I don’t fucking know what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s real, what’s not. I just literally need to get the fuck out and away from these fucking people.” It’s life or death for Faye at this point.

When did you know this was the end? Sam was very tight-lipped about it until yesterday.

I always kind of knew it was the end. Honestly, I knew that season three was the end the moment we started shooting season two. There was always talk about how they wanted to do a bunch of seasons, but then they just kind of realized, I think, that the storyline that people were really invested in couldn’t really last more than three seasons. 

They told the story of someone with severe addiction issues, and we saw this person struggle and try to have wins, and I felt like they told all the story that needed to be told. It couldn’t really go anywhere else. Sam researches these topics a lot. He’s had a lot of life experience himself.

How did you feel about Faye’s ending within that? She survives, at least. 

I was really glad to see that Faye survived. Faye was just born into an unfortunate situation with her family, where she just doesn’t have any family that she can rely on, that she just doesn’t have anything to grasp onto. She didn’t go to college. She didn’t have any parents or family that raised her correctly or helped her. It all leads her to these drugs; this is all she has access to, and she’s just so desperately trying to get out of the drug business and from all this — the murder and the death and the horrible things that come with dealing drugs in that way.

She is hoping that she and Wayne just go off, leave and are never around the drugs ever again. “We just get to go and live on a farm somewhere.” She had no control over her childhood or her young adult years; she wants the exact opposite of what she experienced before, which is just feeling a sense of peace and safety and control. That’s what her dream is with Wayne, to go and live on a farm and take care of animals and have kids and babies. She just wants things that are just good and kind and peaceful in this world.

Do you envision that for her? 

I definitely envisioned that for her. I really hope the best for Faye and Wayne. I would love to envision that they go off somewhere and Wayne is able to find some kind of work, and then Faye gets to have the babies that she wants to have and that they get to have their house, and they have a very peaceful, simple life.

Obviously Euphoria is done, but is this a character you’d ever feel like revisiting?

Oh, yeah. As long as Sam Levinson’s directing, I’ll revisit Faye anytime in my life. Honestly. I love working with Sam Levinson on Faye. It’s just so much fun. Yeah, I would revisit Faye at any point.