Trigger Warning: This article contains themes of drug abuse.
One of the most prominent themes on HBO’s Euphoria is addiction. Many characters are seen fighting many different versions of one battle. The one that is given the most attention, however, is that of drug addiction. The protagonist, Rue, is shown through the genuine highs and lows of the struggle, a subject close to the heart of the series’s creator. Sam Levinson spent quite a huge amount of his life facing the exact demons that haunt Zendaya’s character and it was a huge motivation for why he made the show.
Due to this, it is ironic to find out the reason why Dominic Fike is not interested in returning to the series for its third season. Having played the role of Elliot, he revealed that he also struggled with drug addiction and the way it was handled behind the scenes was not satisfactory enough for him.
Dominic Fike Did Not Like How His Addiction Was Handled On The Set Of Euphoria
Dominic Fike recently gave an interview with Variety, where he spoke about his upcoming short film, Little Death, a project he worked on with his close friend and director, Jack Begert. Here, he plays the role of a drug addict, something he has also done in the past on HBO’s Euphoria. The actor confessed that playing a role like this now, was much easier to do than in the Sam Levinson series, not because of his closeness with the creator of the short, but because of how his own addiction was handled once the cameras were turned off.
“I’ve done that before, like acted like a drug addict,” Fike said. “I actually am a pretty big drug addict myself, believe it or not. When I was on ‘Euphoria,’ they kind of just gave me a coach who would just talk to you. It was just some random lady. Jack is one of my best friends so it made it a lot easier, obviously.”
The actor confessed his longtime struggle with drug abuse and mentioned how it was tackled on the sets of the HBO hit series, stating that he was given a sober coach who would help give him some ease. He would be able to talk to her about whatever he needed to and have a comforting environment for it. While it may sound good on paper, Fike confessed that this was not very effective as he did not know the woman that well and did not feel safe enough.
Dominic Fike Does Not Think He Will Return To The Sets of Euphoria
Dominic Fike then revealed that it wasn’t just his lack of connection with his sober coach that made him hesitant to open up. Other aspects led to him being as closed off. He mentioned that they had nothing in common and they were from very different backgrounds. This made it very difficult for her to understand what he was going through, having never experienced it herself.
Fike said the sober coach was “a random lady that i’d never relate to. We had nothing in common. We didn’t come from the same places or the same problems. It was hard to take advice from someone like that or give a sh*t.”
Fike then shifted to talking about the third season of Euphoria and what his plans are for it. He stated that although he would love to join the series again, he is unsure if his character would return or not. He also added that he is not in contact with people from the show, so does not think it to be a possibility. This would be surprising as Barbie Ferreira’s Kat will also not be coming back for the next season.
