The third and final season of Euphoria wrapped up the saga of Rue Bennett (Zendaya) and her friends with wild showpieces, jaw-dropping moments, and even a healthy dose of spirituality. However, the HBO show also offered newcomers to the series the occasional chance to steal the spotlight from Euphoria‘s massive ensemble cast of literal superstars.
One such incredible performer? Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who played the charming, yet nefarious, strip club impresario Alamo Brown.
**Spoilers for the Euphoria Season 3 finale, now streaming on HBO Max**
When Rue first met Alamo back in the Euphoria Season 3 premiere, she was so taken by the dream world he presided over — beautiful women everywhere, drugs to enjoy, no muling to endure — she pitched him hard on taking her on so she could leave the employ of Laurie (Martha Kelly). Rue explained that she thought God brought the two of them together, and after she survives a wild “William Tell” like test, Alamo is inclined to believe.
If God brought Rue and Alamo together, though, it’s because Euphoria has a cruel sense of humor. Ultimately, Alamo would be responsible for Rue’s tragic death, tricking her into taking fentanyl-laced Percocets in the series finale. While some fans might have thought the addiction-laden character simply died of an overdose, Akinnuoye-Agbaje confirmed to DECIDER when he visited our studio recently that Alamo killed Rue.
“It was a perfect way of getting rid of her,” Akinnuoye-Agbaje said. “I think also, as we learn, he kind of enjoys the sport of killing people. You know, he does enjoy that. He’s got quite a sadistic streak.”
DECIDER spoke with the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Emmy contender about that sadistic streak, working with Alexa Demie, and what really killed Alamo in the end. (According to Akinnuoye-Agbaje, it wasn’t Ali’s bullets.)
DECIDER: So obviously Euphoria was one of the biggest shows on TV. How does it feel now that it’s out there in the world and everyone knows what happens to Alamo Brown?
ADEWALE AKINNUOYE-AGBAJE: You know what? It’s a melee of emotions, you know? Because obviously the impact of what Alamo did is now being felt. Zendaya did an incredible job portraying Rue and she became a beloved character. So it’s personal to the audience. And now you’re feeling that, you know, so there’s that.
But there’s an exhalation for me. I can come back to herself and just release Mr. Alamo Brown and carry on with life. But also just a sense of gratitude, because even though people love to hate him, they’re engaged. They they liked him, they’ve enjoyed him. They’ve cursed him and they’ve been angered by him. That’s what you set out to do. You want to engage the audience, you know?
Speaking of which, I’ve been seeing so many fan reactions to your performance and how incredible it is. Have you seen anything particular that made you chuckle or made you feel touched.
Well, it’s been a few marriage proposals that’s been quite… [Chuckling] Oh, well, he’s a crime lord that traffics women and kills people. Diff’rent strokes, I guess. But no, their theories about, you know, what would life have been like with him and Maddy had he not been killed? People were just taking it to wherever they want. I think they’ve all been, I think, overwhelmingly positive. You know, I think the biggest one is when they realized that I was obviously British. They never they never expected that, which is good. I think that’s a testament to the work we put into — both me and Sam — to build the character.
Yeah, you mentioned Maddy. I really loved watching you and Alexa on screen together. You’re two electric performers together in scenes. So take me back to the diner scene, because almost immediately those two establish this rapport. What was it like to begin the sort of the partnership of Alamo Brown and Maddy Perez?
Alexa Demie, I always loved her character — because I binge-watched the first two seasons before coming on board — and she just has this… Her character’s very real in how she delivers her truth. And I love that. When Alamo meets her, and working with her, she brings out a different side of Alamo that we hadn’t seen. You know, he sees things in her that remind him of himself. She’s ambitious. She’s no-nonsense and she’s forthright. She says what it is. Yeah, she’s naive, but she’s a femme fatale. She’s put together well, so he likes all of that. But I think what Maddy brings out in Alamo were the softer side, the more interesting, the charming, the flirtatious, and even the vulnerable. You know, it didn’t last long, but she was able to elicit a different side of him, which I really enjoyed. You know, there was an instant chemistry between us and it didn’t feel like acting. She’s very spontaneous and humorous and I think that played out in the scenes.
I thought the scene in the finale where he gives her this kind of proposal was so interesting because I think he thinks he’s being romantic, but she feels like she’s being cornered. It seemed, at least to me as an audience member. Why is it her, of all the girls he’s met, that he believes can be his gateway to the American dream? Because he has a lot of beautiful women in his orbit. But is there something about her that really gets to him?
I think it’s something in that sequence — and both myself and Sam really worked hard to define that last speech and sequence — so I think that Alamo had achieved pretty much everything at that point. You know, he defeated Laurie, he defeated the DEA. He’d gotten rid of the rat, which was Rue, and he’d gotten all the money. So he was on top of the world. I think as at that point he realizes he has everything, but he felt empty. Like he had nothing, and the nothing was missing. As you notice, he’s there, supposed to be celebrating, watching all of his boys celebrate, but he’s sullen I think that’s when he has this epiphany that I’ve gotten all of this, but what is it all really about? You know? And then he starts to think that really all he ever wanted was a family and to be loved and have children and a barefoot and pregnant wife in the kitchen. Really that’s a basic man. And he wants to surrender to that. I think Maddy is probably the closest that he could find to being that ideal woman and a partner in business. She has the right aesthetics for him and she’s smart. I think he gravitated to that, you know? So I think she’s there at the right time and she ticks the right boxes for him.
You alluded to the fact that some that Rue is killed by Alamo, though some fans think she just nearly OD’d on just a random bottle of pills. But can you kind of elaborate on his plan and how meticulous he was with creating the temptation for her to take those fentanyl-laced pills?
Well, I think we established after the robbery that there was acute suspicion that Alamo had for Rue because she didn’t identify the robbers. So already he figured that she’s playing both sides. From that point, he was going to decide what to do with her. It was just a matter of when, because he was still in a bind at that point. So he needed to extricate himself from the situation, i.e. get back his money, but, more importantly, the incriminating evidence. So he needed to get that back and so he was going to use her to do that. Then once you’ve done that, he was going to dispense with her, because the one thing we’d established in his backstory is he was never going to let a woman outsmart him. I think the fact that he’d taken her into his fold, she was a female, and it arced back to his mother’s trauma and corrupting his heart, he kind of unleashed a more sadistic retribution on her. It was very calculated, and I think it was also smart in that he wanted to cover himself and make an alibi. So if she turns up dead, then, well, she’s a drug addict anyway, and it’s probably what she did. So it was a perfect way of getting rid of her. I think also, as we learn, he kind of enjoys the sport of killing people. You know, he does enjoy that. He’s got quite a sadistic streak.
Speaking of which, we have spoken earlier about the William Tell moment in the premiere, but you had the croquet mallet moment later on the season. That was insane to watch. What was it like to be on the horse with the mallet?
Scary because I’ve never ridden a horse in my life and I had to go to a horse-riding bootcamp. I had six weeks to learn how to ride a horse one-handed, swinging a mallet. And thanks to a great trainer that I had, Scottie Perez, he made me look half decent. But I tell you, that’s probably the best acting that I did on the show to convince everybody that I was fearless on that horse because I was petrified of falling off. But it came off. And really, for me as an actor, there was no way I could play a cowboy without having riding a horse. You know, it really is a critical part of that whole culture and it brings everything together. So yeah, it was great. Once we got it done, I could really relax and shoot the rest of the season.
In the finale, you have a wonderful showdown with Colman Domingo, who is one of my favorite actors. I mean, you two both have such a presence on screen, you can feel it through the celluloid. What was it like shooting that day? It’s such an intense old school western standoff.
I mean, it was actually surprisingly fun because even though it’s tense and ominous, it was very lighthearted in a way. And I think it needed to be, in a sense, because the first time I met Colman was in that scene, in that sequence where we were cussing each other out. Quite badly, you know what I mean? And then we’d step aside and say, “Nice to meet you, nice to meet you.” And then we go back into cussing each other’s mothers. It was a great way to break the ice and just get on with it. And Sam had really orchestrated the scene so meticulously, and it allowed us just to get through it fluidly because there were a lot of moving parts. As you know, everybody’s arc kind of crescendoed in that scene.
You mentioned earlier how Alamo was defined by never wanting a woman to get one over on him. In the end, it was a man. It was Bishop. Can you take me through what that means at this person who we thought was loyal for so long had the gall to take out the bullets from the gun?
Well, I mean, I think that Alamo was dead before the bullet of Ali hit him. I think the betrayal killed him. If you rewatch it, there’s a hair of a beat where even Ali is not sure. He’s surprised. So [Alamo] has a chance to duck or maybe even quickly try to run, tell one of his men to shoot him. But the thing he does is he turns to Bishop and says, “I’ll see you [in hell].” He surrenders to his fate in a sense, because it’s the betrayal that really kills him. Then the bullet is kind of, you know, if anything saves him and takes him away from that pain. Yeah, he’d been running away from betrayal all his life and it was always within the camp. It’s the classic Iago moment, you know. So I think that really is the bullet that killed him.
Before I let you go, obviously this is the end of Euphoria. It’s been a huge journey for everyone involved, the cast and the crew. What is the one thing that you’re going to take with you from the experience that you’ll treasure the most, be it a relationship or a creative experience?
I think it’s the process of Sam Levinson. I think it’s quite unique. It’s very fluid in that most directors, when they want to change a sequence or a scene, they might write notes before you go in and say, “Hey, I’ve changed this, take this.” Or even after you shot it, say, “Well, that’s not quite right. Yeah, I’ve made some changes on the next take. Do this.” But with Sam, it was whilst you were actually shooting. He would throw lines in and you’re present in the scene and you’re getting lines coming in here, lines coming in there. What that did for me, it just forced me to be present. You know, you have to grow new creative muscles with that process. And I think it made me a better actor. I think it’s a reason that he elicits such powerful performances from the actors in the show [is] because it’s alive, and he’s fine tuning it as it’s going. You have to be really reactive and responsive to what’s being thrown at you.
So I treasure the process and just being a part of the “Euphoric” family because they embraced me.
Euphoria Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max.